' 


85 


HON.    GUOVER    CLEVELAND. 
DEMOCRATIC   CANDIDATE   FOK    1'HKSIOKNT. 


THE  LIVES  OF 

GROVER  CLEVELAND 

'AND 

THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS, 


1884. 


AN  AUTHOKIZED,   AUTHENTIC,  AND  COMPLETE  HISTORY  OF  THEIR 
PUBLIC  CAREER  AND  PRIVATE  LIFE 

FROM 

BOYHOOD  TO  THE  PRESENT  DATE, 

BEPLETE   WITH 

INCIDENTS,  ANECDOTES,  GRAPHIC  PEN-PICTURES,  AND  THRILLING  HISTORY. 

CONTAINING    ALSO 

THE  COMPLETE   HISTORY  OF  THE    DEMOCRATIC    PARTY  FROM  ITS  RISE) 

TO    THE    PRESENT    TIME;     THE     CONSTITUTION    OF    THE    UNITED 

STATES  AND   ITS  FORMATION ;   A  COMPLETE   SUMMARY  OF  THE 

LIVES     AND     DEEDS    OF     ALL     THE     PRESIDENTS,     FROM 

"WASHINGTON  TO    ARTHUR;    TOGETHER   WITH   OTHER 

IMPORTANT   INFORMATION. 

THE  MOST  VALUABLE  COMPENDIUM  OF  POLITICAL  HISTORY  EVER  PUBLISHED 

BT 

AUGUSTINE  BAKNUM. 


SUPERBLY  ILLUSTRATED  WITH  MAGNIFICENT  PORTRAITS  AND  FULL-PAGE  IN/GRATINGS 

BY  T.  W.  WILLIAMS. 


PUBLISHED   BY 

THE  HARTFORD  PUBLISHING  CO., 

HARTFORD,  CONN. 
1884. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  yonr  1884, 

BY  THE  HARTFORD  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


TO 

THE  YOUNG  MEN  OF  THE  UNION 

WHO  BELIEVE 
THAT  THE   ELECTION  OP   GROVEK  CLEVELAND  AS 

PRESIDENT   OF  THE   REPUBLIC 

WILL    PROMOTE    REFORM,   PURIFY    THE    GOVERNMENT,    AND 
ELEVATE  PARTIES  OF  WHATEVER  POLITICAL  NAME, 

THIS  VOLUME 

is 
RESPECTFULLY  INSCRIBED. 


141244'! 


PREFACE. 


THE  best  materials  for  political  prophecy  are  the 
unforced  opinions  of  young  men,  according  to 
Lord  Bacon ;  and  the  evident  belief  of  a  vast  multitude 
of  the  intelligent  young  men  of  the  Republic  that  the 
elevation  of  Grover  Cleveland  to  the  Presidency  would 
promote  the  welfare  of  the  people  has  encouraged  the 
production  of  this  book.  It  contains,  besides  the  lives 
of  Cleveland  and  Hendricks,  the  candidates  nominated 
by  the  Democratic  National  Convention  at  Chicago  on 
July  llth,  1884,  for  the  Presidency  and  the  Yice-Presi- 
dency,  a  history  of  the  Democratic  Party,  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,  and  a  sketch  of  each  of  the 
Presidents. 

It  has  been  frequently  said  that  the  public  career  of 
Grover  Cleveland  is  too  brief  for  an  abundance  of 
material  to  make  his  biography  interesting,  but  the 
reader  of  this  book,  like  its  writer,  will  find  that  the 
story  of  his  elevation,  through  his  own  exertions,  from 
poverty  in  boyhood  to  a  position  of  eminence  in  the 
prime  of  manhood,  possesses  a  power  of  i'ascination 


yi  PREFACE. 

which  increases  to  the  end.  His  career  is  typically 
American,  and  to  trace  its  development  is  a  task  which 
affords  instruction  and  encouragement,  to  youth,  as  well 
as  entertainment  to  age.  As  a  reformer  Grover  Cleve- 
land represents  the  best  hopes  of  the  nation,  and  a 
contemplation  of  the  future  which  will  open  hefore  him 
when  he  receives  from  the  people  on  the  4th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1884,  a  commission  to  undertake  in  the  Federal 
Government  a  work  of  reform  similar  to  that  which  he 
has  accomplished  as  Governor  of  New  York  and  as 
Mayor  of  Buffalo  must  excite  enthusiasm,  even  in  the 
sluggish. 

The  preparation  of  this  volume  has  involved  so  much 
more  labor  than  it  was  possible  for  one  person  to  per- 
form within  the  time  allotted  for  the  achievement  that 
he  who  assumes  responsibility  for  the  book  may  perhaps 
present  his  name  to  the  public  as  editor  more  properly 
than  as  author.  In  the  history  of  the  Democratic 
Party,  the  life  of  Hendricks,  and  the  sketches  of  the 
Presidents  the  traces  of  other  pens  than  his  will  be 
readily  discerned.  To  the  many  gleaners  whose  industry 
has  furnished  material  for  his  use  an  acknowledgment 
is  here  tendered,  and  to  the  assistants  who  have  shared 
his  toil  from  its  beginning  to  its  end  the  most  cordial 
thanks  are  expressed.  A.  B. 

NEW  YORK,  July,  1884. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

1.  PORTRAIT  OF  GROVER  CLEVELAND,  DEMOCRATIC  CANDI- 

DATE FOR  PRESIDENT,       ....        Frontispiece 

2.  GROVER  CLEVELAND'S  STUDENT-LIFE. 

(1)  Studying  Blackstone. 

(2)  A  Two-mile  Tramp  Home.          )          ...        39 

3.  Gov.    CLEVELAND'S   UNOSTENTATIOUS   ARRIVAL  AT  THE 

STATE  CAPITOL,  ALBANY,  PREVIOUS  TO  HIS  INAUGU- 
RATION,         69 

4.  THE  EXPOSITION  BUILDING,  CHICAGO,  WHERE  THE  DEMO- 

CRATIC CONVENTION  OF  1884  WAS  HELD,         .        .      109 

5.  STREET-SCENE  AT  NIGHT  IN  BUFFALO,  GROVER  CLEVE- 

LAND'S HOME,   ON   RECEIPT  OF  THE   NEWS  OF  HIS 
NOMINATION 96 

6.  PORTRAIT    OF     THOMAS    A.     HENDRICKS,     DEMOCRATIC 

CANDIDATE  FOR  VICE  PRESIDENT 211 

7.  SCENE  AT  THE  DEMOCRATIC  CONVENTION  ON  ANNOUNC- 

ING THE  NOMINATION  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS,      225 


yiii  LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

8.  THE  WHITE  HOUSE,  WASHINGTON.— HOME  OP  THE  PRESI- 

DENTS,           395 

(From  a  photograph  made  by  the  U.  S.  Government.) 

9.  THE  CABINET  ROOM,  INSIDE  THE  WHITE  HOUSE,  WASH- 

INGTON,         431 

10.  THE    SENATE   CHAMBER,   INSIDE   THE  CAPITOL,  WASH- 

INGTON  449 

11.  THE  HALL  OP  REPRESENTATIVES,  INSIDE  THE  CAPITOL, 

WASHINGTON, 465 

12.  THE  MARBLE  ROOM  LNBEDE  THE  CAPITOL,  WASHINGTON,  481 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

CLEVELAND  IN  BOYHOOD  AND  EARLY  LIFE. 

Grover  Cleveland's  Career  a  Surprisiugly  Interesting  Story. — The 
Cleveland  Genealogy. — The  Stock  Transplanted  to  Connecticut 
from  Massachusetts. — "A  Good  Race." — Grover  Cleveland's  Father 
and  Mother. — Their  Courtship  and  Marriage  in  Baltimore. — Grover's 
Birthplace  in  New  Jersey. — His  Father  Seeks  a  Wider  Field  as  a 
Minister,  and  Better  Support  for  his  Family,  in  New  York. — 
The  Youth  Outgrows  the  Village  School  and  Clamors  for  an  Educa- 
tion, but  Enters  a  Country  Store. — The  Removal  to  Clinton  and 
to  Holland  Patent. — He  hears  of  his  Father's  Sudden  Death  while 
walking  on  the  Street  with  his  Sister.  His  Widowed  Mother's 
Cares. — His  Parents'  Graves. — In  New  York  as  a  Teacher  of  the 
Blind. — His  Start  in  Buffalo. — Poverty  and  Hard  Work. — Was  there 
a  Romance? — Why  he  did  not  Enter  the  Army.  25 

CHAPTER  II. 

CLEVELAND  AS  A  LAWYER  AND  AS  MAYOR  OF  BUF- 
FALO. 

Cleveland's  Beginning  in  Official  Life. — Assistant  District-Attor- 
ney of  Erie  County  at  Twenty-five  Years  of  Age. — Hard  Work  Wins 
a  Nomination  for  District-Attorney. — His  Term  as  Sheriff. — An 


x  CONTENTS. 

Answer  to  a  Fling  that  he  was  a  Hangman. —His  Character  as  a 
Lawyer.— Buffalo  under  Ring  Rule.— Cleveland's  Reputation 
Makes  him  a  Candidate  for  Mayor.— His  Speech  accepting  the 
Nomination.— Supported  by  Voters  of  all  Parties.— A  Great 
Majority.— His  Inaugural  Declaration.  — He  Saves  a  Million  in  Six 
Months.— His  Beginning  as  a  Vetoer.— His  Address  on  the  Duties  of 
the  Government  to  Americans  Abroad.— His  Course  as  Mayor  gives 
him  National  Fame.  46 

CHAPTER  III. 

CLEVELAND  AS  GOVERNOR  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Charles  A.  Dana,  of  the  New  York  Sun,  on  the  Qualities  exhibited 
by  Grover  Cleveland  as  Mayor  of  Buffalo. — "A  Man  Worthy  of  the 
Highest  Public  Confidence." — Cleveland's  Nomination  for  Governor 
and  his  Letter  of  Acceptance. — His  Majority  the  Greatest  in  the 
History  of  the  "Empire  State." — His  Views  set  forth  at  length. — 
Mr.  Dana  on  Governor  Cleveland's  Inaugural. — Extracts  from  that 
Important  Document.— Taxation.— Canals.— Education.— Banks. — 
State-Prisons. — The  Insane.  —Port  Abuses. — Civil  Service. — Munici- 
pal Government.— Primary  Elections. — Special  Legislation.— Con- 
clusion. 61 

CHAPTER  IV. 

CLEVELAND'S  VETOES. 

"His  Veto  of  the  Street-Cleaning  Job  is  regarded  as  the  Real 
Beginning  of  his  Public  Career."— A  Prominent  Resident  of  Buffalo 
gives  the  Opinion.— Cleveland's  Use  of  the  Veto  Power  as  Governor. 
—A  Famous  Veto  two  months  after  he  entered  the  Executive  Man- 
sion at  Albany.— The  Five-Cent-Fare  Bill.— Its  History  and  its  De- 
fects.—The  Governor's  Words  in  Vetoing  it.— The  Courage  of  the 


CONTENTS.  XI 

Veto  wins  the  Admiration  of  President  White  of  Cornell. —  The 
Conductors  and  Drivers'  Bill. — "  Not  in  the  Interest  of  Workiug- 
men." — A  Legislator's  Trick  makes  a  Veto  Necessary. — The  Me- 
chanics' Lien  Bill. — Cleveland's  Vetoes  and  the  Veterans. — A  Veto 
which  Saved  the  Savings  Banks.  81 

CHAPTER  Y. 

CLEVELAND  AND  THE  WORKINGMEN. 

Cleveland  as  a  Workingman. — His  Words  on  the  Protection  of 
Labor. — The  New  York  Times  on  his  Record. — The  Veto  Power  not 
used  against  Workingmen. — President  Thayer,  of  the  New  York 
Labor  Union,  on  Cleveland's  Vetoes. — Comments  of  the  Springfield 
Republican,  New  York  Herald,  and  Thomas  B.  Connery,  the  New 
York  Journalist. — The  Boston  Post  on  Cleveland's  Services  to  Work- 
ingmen.— Senator  Daly,  the  Representative  of  Metropolitan  Work- 
ingmen, on  Governor  Cleveland  and  the  Labor  Bills. — A  Circular 
issued  by  New  York  Workiugmen. — Twenty-four  Reasons  why 
Workingineu  should  Vote  and  Work  to  make  Grover  Cleveland 
President  of  the  United  States.  96 

CHAPTER  VI. 

CLEVELAND  IN  THE  CHICAGO  CONVENTION. 

Like  Abraham  Lincoln,  Grover  Cleveland  Receives  a  Nomination 
for  the  Presidency  Without  Working  for  it. — General  Pryor's  Quick 
Discernment  of  the  Mood  of  Democrats  in  National  Convention  at 
Chicago. — Mr.  Lockwood,  the  Buffalo  Lawyer,  who  has  Nominated 
Cleveland  for  Many  Offices. — His  Eloquent  Speech  in  Presenting 
his  Name  for  the  Presidency. — Mayor  Carter  Harrison,  of  Chicago, 
the  First  to  Second  the  Nomination. — The  Grady  Incident,  and  Mr. 
Apgur's  Reply. — Mr.  Jones,  of  Minnesota. — General  Bragg,  of  Wis- 


xji  CONTENTS. 

consin,  who  "Loves  Cleveland  most  for  the  Enemies  he  has  Made." 
— Nominated  on  the  Second  Ballot. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  PLATFORM  AND  OFFICIAL  NOTIFICATION. 
The  Platform  adopted  by  the  Chicago  Convention  for  the  Cam 
paign  of  1884.— Lengthy  but  Vigorous.— Its  Criticism  of  Republican 
Administration.  —  Pledges  to  Purify  the  Government.— No  War- 
Taxes.— Honest  Money.— Restore  the  Merchant-Marine— The  Com- 
mittee appointed  at  Chicago  to  notify  Governor  Cleveland  Visit 
Albany.— The  Official  Notification  at  the  Executive  Mansion.— The 
Address  presented  by  the  Committee.— Governor  Cleveland's  Reply. 
—The  Reception  at  the  Fort  Orange  Club-House.— Greeting  from 
Mr.  Tilden.  128 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

CLEVELAND  AS  A  REFORMER. 

No  better  Evidence  that  he  is  a  Reformer  than  the  Declaration  in 
his  Favor  of  the  New  York  Timts,  the  Great  Independent  Republi- 
can Newspaper. — George  William  Curtis  brings  the  Power  of  Har- 
per's Weekly  to  his  Support. — The  Roosevelt  Bills. — Administrative 
Reform. — Governor  Cleveland's  Appointments. — His  Opinions  as  to 
Civil-Service  Reform. — "I  do  not  believe  in  turning  out  good  men 
because  their  views  differ  from  mine." — He  Approves  the  Pemlleton 
Bill. — Cleveland  and  Tariff  Reform. — He  Satisfies  Men  on  Medium 
Ground. — Anti-Monopoly  and  Cleveland  as  a  Reformer. — The  Letter 
of  Charles  Francis  Adams,  Jr.  147 

CHAPTER  IX. 

CLEVELAND  AND  THE  INDEPENDENTS. 

The  Fight  of  Reformers  in  the  Chicago  Republican  Convention. — 
Their  Defeat  and  their  Revolt.— Heroic  Treatment  for  the  "Grand 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

Old  Party." — Salvation  by  Defeat. — The  Democratic  Party  in  Con- 
trol of  the  Independent  Vote. — The  Call  for  an  Independent  Con- 
ference.— A  Great  Assembly  in  the  University  Club  Theatre,  New 
York. — Chairman  Codman's  Eloquent  Address. — The  Committees. — 
The  Independent  Platform. — .The  Principles  it  Enunciates  and  the 
Invitation  it  Extends. — A  National  Committee  of  Forty. — Where 
the  Independents  will  Work  Hardest  for  Cleveland.  155 

CHAPTER  X. 

CLEVELAND'S  PERSONAL  CHARACTERISTICS  AND 
HOME  LIFE. 

Grover  Cleveland's  Personal  Appearance. — His  Pictures  seldom  do 
him  Justice. — A  Man  of  "  the  Old  School." — Cleveland  in  Society. — 
His  Bachelor  Apartments. — His  Simple  Tastes  and  Habits  in  Buffalo. 
— Not  Penurious  and  not  Rich. — His  Free  Work  for  Poor  Clients. — 
Prosperity  has  not  Changed  him. — His  Old  Friends  in  Buffalo  and 
Holland  Patent. — His  Strong  Traits  predominate. — His  Brothers  and 
Sisters. — The  Family  Characteristics  in  a  Disaster  at  Sea. — At  the 
Executive  Mansion. — The  Governor's  Democratic  Simplicity. — His 
Immease  Mail,  his  Numerous  Callers,  and  his  Seat  in  Church.  178 

CHAPTER  XI. 

CLEVELAND  AND  HIS  FRIENDS  IN  THE  CAMPAIGN. 

Grover  Cleveland  Judged  from  the  Character  of  His  Friends. — 
His  Serenade  Speech  to  Albany  Friends  at  the  Executive  Mansion. 
— His  Buffalo  Friends  Proud  of  him  and  his  Honors. — The  Best 
Men  of  his  Party. — Congratulations  from  "a  Democratic  War- 
horse." — Cleveland  and  his  Irish  Friends. — Ex  Senator  Kernan, 
Father  McGlynn,  Daniel  Dougherty,  and  the  Boston  Pilot. — Cleve- 
land and  his  German  Friends. — The  Power  of  the  German  Vote. — 


XJV  CONTENTS. 

Cleveland  and  his  Soldier-Friends.— Cleveland  and  his  Managers. 
—Friends  of  the  Press.— Cleveland's  Friends  the  "  Bolters."— 
Their  High  Character  and  Great  Influence. — Timid  Friends  Reas- 
sured.— Scandal  in  the  Campaign. — Cleveland  "a  Man  of  Des- 
tiny." 188 

CHAPTER  XII. 

HENDRICKS  IN  THE  CHICAGO  CONVENTION. 
The  Part  of  Thomas  Andrews  Hendricks  in  the  Chicago  Demo- 
cratic Convention  as  an  Introduction  to  a  Sketch  of  his  Career — His 
Prominence  and  his  Popularity— His  Friends  Determined  to  Present 
his  Name  for  the  Presidency,  but  lie  Seeks  the  First  Place  for  Mc- 
Donald— His  Speech  in  the  Convention — McDonald  Declares  that 
he  could  not  have  Served  him  more  Faithfully  at  Chicago — John 
Kelly,  the  Tammany  Grand  Sachem  and  Ilendricks's  Ardent  Friend, 
attempts  to  Stampede  the  Convention — A  Correspondent's  Graphic 
Description  of  the  Scene — Hendricks  for  Vice-President — Nominated 
by  Acclamation — He  Goes  Home  Happy,  but  Undecided  whether  to 
Accept.  209 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

MR.  HENDRICKS  IN  EARLY  LIFE. 

Mr.  Hendricks's  Birth  and  Ancestry. — His  College  Life  and  Ad- 
mission to  the  Bar. — His  Rapid  Progress  as  a  Lawyer. — Elected  to 
the  Indiana  Legislature  at  the  Age  of  Twenty-eight.— Member  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1850.— His  Interest  in  the  Public 
Schools.— He  Speaks  in  Favor  of  the  State  Banking  System. — 
Elected  to  Congress  for  the  First  Time  by  an  Immense  Majority. — 
Mr.  Heudricks's  Opposition  to  the  Know-Nothing  Movement.— 
President  Pierce  Appoints  him  Land  Commissioner. — His  Disas- 
trous Candidacy  for  the  Governorship  in  1860. — Resuming  the  Prac- 
tice of  Law  at  Indianapolis.  228 


CONTENTS.  IV 

CHAPTER  XIY. 

MR.  HENDRICKS  IN  CONGRESS 

His  Service  in  the  House  of  Representatives. — Favoring  Bounty 
Lands  for  Soldiers. — His  Support  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill. — 
Elected  United  States  Senator  in  1860. — His  Opposition  to  the  Freed- 
men's  Bureau  Bill. — Hendricks's  Answer  to  Fessenden. — "I  would 
not  violate  the  Constitution  in  order  to  pass  any  law." — Hendricks's 
Support  of  the  Union  Cause. — The  Warm  Friendship  between  Hen- 
dricks  and  Lincoln. — Hendricks  Repels  an  Attack  by  Oliver  P. 
Morton. — How  Hendricks  Secured  an  Appointment  for  David  Mc- 
Donald. 239 

CHAPTER  XY. 

MR.  HENDRICKS  AS  GOVERNOR  OF  INDIANA. 
A  Bitter  Canvass. — His  Personal  Popularity  Carries  him  Through. 
— The  Only  Candidate  on  the  State  Ticket  Elected. — Tom  Browne 
his  Opponent. — The  Temperance  Crusade. — "Eating  Meat." — 
Waiting  for  the  Returns. — "  I  wonder  if  I  am  always  to  just  miss 
being  Governor  of  Indiana." — His  Course  on  the  Liquor  Question. — 
A  Conscientious  and  Clear  Administration. — Features  of  the  Baxter 
Bill. — Constitutionality  of  the  Measure. — Why  he  Signed  the  Bill. — 
How  he  Brought  the  Legislature  to  Terms. — Effect  on  the  School 
Revenues. — The  Financial  Question. — Speech  in  Philadelphia. — 
Unfair  Criticism  of  his  Course  as  Governor.  251 

CHAPTER  XYI. 

MR.  HENDRICKS  IN  THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1868. 
The  Tammany  Hall  Convention  in  New  York. — Mr.  Hendricks's 
Prominence  as  a  Presidential  Candidate. — Samuel  J.  Tilden  Present- 
ing Hendricks's  Name  as  the  Nominee. — A  Division  in  the  Ranks  of 
the  Indiana  Delegation. — The   Friends  of    George  H.   Pendleton 


XVi  CONTENTS. 

Stand  Firm  and  Oppose  Hendricks. — Horatio  Seymour  Receives 
the  Vote  of  the  Ohio  Delegation  and  Causes  a  Stampede. — Heu- 
dricks's  Name  Withdrawn,  and  Seymour  Nominated  on  the  Twenty- 
second  Ballot. — Hemirieks's  Graceful  Acquiescence  in  the  Action  of 
the  Convention. — He  Eulogizes  Seymour  in  a  Speech  in  the  Senate. 
— Heudricks's  Enthusiastic  Reception  at  Indianapolis.  271 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

MR.  HENDRICKS  ON  THE  TICKET  WITH  MR.  TILDEN. 
The  Democratic  National  Convention  of  1876. — Mr.  Heudricks 
Unanimously  Nominated  for  Vice-President  on  the  First  Ballot. — 
His  Disinclination  to  Accept  the  Honor. — His  Letter  of  Acceptance. 
— Approval  of  the  Platform. — "  The  Public  Service  Debauched  by 
Dishonesty,  Rapacity,  and  Venality." — The  Questions  of  Finance, 
Civil  Service,  and  Foreign  Policy. — Uncertainty  as  to  the  Result  of 
the  Election. — Excitement  throughout  the  Country. — The  Electoral 
Commission. — Hayes  Declared  Elected. — Hendricks's  Attitude  pend- 
ing the  Decision. — His  Speech  at  the  Manhattan  Club  in  New  York. 
— "A  Great  and  a  Sincere  People  will  Base  their  Final  Action  upon 
the  Truth."  281 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

MR.  HENDRICKS  CONTROVERSY  WITH  SECRETARY 
CHANDLER. 

Hendricks's  Speech  at  Indianapolis  charging  Fraud  in  a  Bureau  of 
the  Navy  Department.— He  suggests  that  the  President  Institute  an 
Inquiry  and  Order  an  Examination  of  the  Books.— Secretary  Chand- 
ler's Lame  Reply.— A  Vain  Attempt  to  Shift  the  Responsibility.— 
Hendricks's  Characteristic  Rejoinder.— His  Charges  Substantiated  by 
Chandler's  own  Admissions.  —  Comments  of  the  Press  approving 
Hendricks's  Onslaught  upon  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.—"  Little 
Billy"  and  his  Naval  Equipment  Lifted  out  of  the  Water.  298 


CONTENTS.  XV11 

CHAPTEE  XIX. 

MR.  HENDRICKS'S  VIEWS  OF  PUBLIC  MEASURES. 
Speech  at  New  Orleans  on  the  Southern  Question. — The  Fifteenth 
Amendment  and  the  Rights  of  the  Colored  Race. — The  Equality  of 
the  Whites  and  the  Blacks  not  one  to  be  Regulated  by  Law. — A 
Demand  for  Equal  Laws  and  Just  Taxation. — "The  Judgment  of 
Mankind  Mightier  than  the  Earthquake." — Mr.  Hendricks  in  the 
Indiana  Campaign  of  1874. — His  Reply  to  the  Address  of  the  Con- 
gressional Committee. — He  Repels  the  Charge  that  the  Republicans 
are  Better  than  the  Democrats. — The  Case  of  Martin  Koszta. — Mr. 
Hendricks  Denounces  the  Proposition  to  Vote  National  Aid  for 
Building  Transportation  Lines. — Reform  in  our  Revenue  System 
and  Civil  Service.  309 

CHAPTER  XX. 
MR.  HENDRICKS  AT  HOME. 

Pen-Portrait  of  Mr.  Hendricks. — Description  of  his  Residence  at 
Indianapolis. — His  Social  Relations. — Mrs.  Hendricks. — A  Woman 
of  Rare  Talent  and  a  Brilliant  Conversationalist. — Her  Husband's 
Confidential  Adviser  and  Constant  Companion. — "Thomas  will  be 
Too  Old  to  be  placed  at  the  Head  of  the  Ticket  in  1888."— Mr. 
Hendricks's  Law-Practice. — Important  Suits  in  -which  he  has  been 
Engaged.— Mr.  Hendricks's  Speech  at  Indianapolis  after  his  Nomina 
tion. — "  There  ought  to  be  a  Change." — His  Confidence  in  the  Suc- 
cess of  the  Ticket. — "Dave"  Gooding's  Little  Joke.  328 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

ORIGIN  AND  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  THE  DEMOCRATIC 
PARTY. 

Party  Divisions  in  Colonial  Times. — "Whigs"  and  "Tories." — 
The  Conflict  of  Colonial  Legislatures  and  Colonial  Governors. — 
Franklin  Suggests  a  Continental  Congress. — The  Whig  the  Only 
Party  of  Patriots  at  the  Beginning  of  the  Revolution. — Jefferson's 


xviii  CONTENTS. 

Absence  during  the  Establishment  of  the  Constitution.— His  Sym- 
pathy with  French  Revolutionists. — His  Distrust  of  a  Monarchical 
Tendency  in  America. — He  enters  Washington's  Cabinet,  but  fears 
that  Federal  Power  is  too  great. — He  Founds  a  New  Party,  which 
was  at  first  called  "  Republican  "  because  "  Democrat  "  was  a  Term 
of  Reproach. — The  French  Revolution  Widens  the  Breach  between 
Federals  and  Republicans. — The  Famous  Alien  and  Sedition  Law. — 
Republican  Resolutions  against  it  which  Destroy  the  Federal 
Party.  343 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE  PARTY'S  LEADERS  AND  PRINCIPLES. 
Jefferson's  Election  to  the  Presidency. — His  Letter  to  Nathaniel 
Macon  outlining  his  Policy. — A  Uniform  System  of  Naturalization 
established. — The  Embargo  Act  passed  by  Congress. —  Madison's 
Administration. — His  Views  on  State  Supremacy. — "The  Era  of 
Good  Feeling." — The  Monroe  Doctrine  and  the  "American  System." 
— Jackson's  Differences  with  Calhoun. — Van  Bnren  and  Harrison's 
Uneventful  Terms.—  The  Compromise  Act  of  183:}.— The  Coniot  <»f 
1844.— The  "5440  Plank."— The  Elections  of  1848  and  1852.— Clay, 
Webster,  and  Calhoun  on  the  Tariff  Question.  360 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  ITS 

HISTORY. 

Preliminaries  to  the  Struggle  for  Independence.— The  Convention 
of  1765.— Articles  of  Confederation.— The  "  Declaration  of  Rights" 
and  other  Papers.— The  Continental  Congress.— Work  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Five.— The  Beginning  of  the  War.— Minute  men.— Wash- 
ington's Statesmanship.— Formation  of  the  Constitution.— O;> 
tion  to  its  Adoption.— Tin;  Bulwark  of  the  Republic.— Text  of  the 
Constitution.— Views  of  the  Statesmen  Concerning  it.— Amendments 
and  Their  History.— How  the  Amendments  were  Ratified.  370 


CONTENTS.  XIX 

CHAPTER  XXIY. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  FIRST  PRESIDENT  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES— SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE  AND  ADMIN- 
ISTRATION. 

His  Remarkable  Modesty. — Opposed  to  Slavery  Although  a  Slave- 
holder.— The  Country  Bordering  on  Anarchy. — Quarrels  Between 
the  Federalists  and  Anti-Federalists. — Not  a  Partisan  Himself. — His 
Virtues  Derived  from  His  Mother. — Mount  Vernon  an  Inheritance 
from  His  Brother. — His  Sense  of  Justice. — Love  of  Truth  and  Per- 
sonal Honor. — Farewell  Address  to  His  Army. — His  Admirably  Bal- 
anced Character. — Washington's  Cabinet. — His  Retirement  to  Private 
Life  at  Most  Welcome.  394 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

JOHN    ADAMS,   SECOND    PRESIDENT    OF    THE    UNITED 
STATES. 

Not  by  any  Means  so  Popular  as  His  Predecessor. — Elected  by 
Three  Votes  Only. — The  Country  Beginning  to  be  an  Independant 
Nation. — Commencing  Life  as  a  School  Teacher. — His  Wife  a  Re- 
markable Woman. — Adams  a  Vigorous  Speaker  and  Pointed  Writer 
of  Choleric  Temper. — Bitter  Hostility  Between  Parties. — Employed 
on  Delicate  Missions. — Extremely  Active  in  Political  Life. — One  of 
the  First  to  See  a  Final  Rupture  with  the  Mother  Country  Inevitable. 

404 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  THIRD  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED 

STATES. 

His  Pride  in  the  Authorship  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
— The  First  Genuine  Democrat. — His  Radical  Revision  of  the  Laws 
of  Virginia. — The  Final  Treaty  of  Peace. — His  Views  Opposed  to 
Hamilton's. — Genest's  Extraordinary  Conduct  as  French  Minister. — 


XX  CONTENTS. 

Love  of  France  and  French  Institutions. — Jefferson  and  Aaron  Burr 
Keceive  the  Same  Number  of  Votes  for  President.— Simplification  of 
Customs  and  Manners. —His  Dislike  of  Titles.— His  Personal  Appear- 
ance and  Delightful  Companionship.  411 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

JAMES  MADISON,  JAMES  MONROE,  AND  JOHN  QTJINCY 
ADAMS,  FOURTH,  FIFTH,  AND  SIXTH  PRESIDENTS  OF 
THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Conciliatory  Character  of  Madison's  Administration. — His  Opin- 
ions on  the  Federal  Government. — His  Charming  Wife. — Decline  and 
Death  of  Federalism. — Monroe's  Election  Almost  Unanimous. — 
His  Gallant  Service  in  the  Field. — Wounded  at  Trenton. — The  Era 
of  Good  Feeling. — Monroe's  Views  of  Coercion. — Bitter  Disputes 
with  Great  Britain  Leading  to  the  War  of  1812.— The  Fifth  Presi- 
dent's Successful  Efforts  to  Restore  the  Public  Credit. — He  Dies  In- 
volved in  Debt. — Adams'  Early  Advantages  and  Experiences. — His 
Honorable  and  Distinguished  Career  in  the  House.  420 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

ANDREW  JACKSON,  MARTIN  VAN  BUREN,  AND  WM. 
HENRY  HARRISON,  SEVENTH,  EIGHTH,  AND  NINTH 
PRESIDENTS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Jackson,  the  First  Unmixed  Democrat.— His  Election  Regarded  in 
Virginia  and  Massachusetts  with  Surprise  and  Disgust.— His  Un- 
couth and  Untaught  Youth.— His  Chivalrous  Delicacy  Toward 
Women.— His  Morbid  Sensibility  about  his  Wife's  Reputation.— His 
Combats  with  Indians.— Various  Recounters  and  Duels.— The  Her- 
mitage.—The  Seminole  War.— Battle  of  New  Orleans.— His  Deter- 
mination  to  Hang  the  Nulliners.—  Honest,  Single-minded,  and  Pat- 
riotic.—Van  Buren  as  Democrat  and  Free-soiler.— His  Contented  Old 
Age.— Harrison  as  an  Indian  Fighter.— The  Log  Cabin  Campaign. 

434 


CONTENTS.  XXI 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

JOHN  TYLER  AND  JAMES  K.  POLK,  TENTH  AND 
ELEVENTH  PRESIDENTS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Tyler  the  First  Vice-President  to  Succeed  the  Chief  Executive  by 
Death. — A  Representative  of  the  Same  Social  Class  as  Jefferson, 
Madison,  and  Monroe. — Education  and  Wealth  Really  Disadvan- 
tageous to  Him. — A  Career  of  Continuous  Vetoes. — Making  Himself 
Extremely  Unpopular.— Forcing  His  Cabinet  to  Resign.— The 
Annexation  of  Texas  a  Favorite  Scheme. — A  Member  of  the  Peace 
Convention  in  1861. — A  Former  Chief  Magistrate  in  Open  Rebellion 
Against  the  Government. — Polk  and  the  Mexican  War. — A  Common- 
place President.  448 
CHAPTER  XXX. 

ZACHARY  TAYLOR,  MILLARD  FILLMORE,  AND  FRANK- 
LIN PIERCE,  TWELFTH,  THIRTEENTH,  AND  FOUR- 
TEENTH PRESIDENTS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Taylor  purely  a  Military  Man. — His  Reputation  made  in  the  Mexican 
War. — His  Death  in  Four  Months. — His  Disqualifications  for  Politi- 
cal Life. — Fillmore's  Early  Success. — His  Foreshadowing  of  the 
National  Banking  System. — Approval  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law. — 
The  Irreparable  Injury  it  did  Him. — A  Candidate  of  the  American 
Party. — Pierce  a  Northern  Man  with  Extreme  Southern  Principles. 
— His  constant  Sympathy  with  and  Sustainment  of  Slavery. — His 
Gallantry  in  the  Field.— Retirement  to  Private  Life  Equivalent  to 
Extinction.  453 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

JAMES  BUCHANAN,   FIFTEENTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES. 

An  Unpopular  Administration. — James  Buchanan's  Early  History. 
•-Sent  to  Congress  at  Twenty-nine. — The  Weakest  of  Presidents. — 


Xxii  CONTENTS. 

His  Total  Inadequacy  for  the  Great  Emergency  in  which  He  was 
Placed. — Shrewd  for  His  Own  Interest. — An  Admirer  and  Fol- 
lower of  Jackson  "Without  His  Will  or  Courage. — The  Anti-Slav- 
ery Excitement  in  Kansas. — The  Cause  of  the  Civil  War  Inherent 
in  the  Constitution. — The  Nation  on  the  Eve  of  a  Conflict. — 
Admission  by  Buchanan  of  the  Right  of  the  Southern  States  to 
Secede. —A  Pitiful  Spectacle  of  Imbecility.— General  Relief  at  the 
End  of  His  Administration.  404 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,    SIXTKF.XTH   PRESIDENT  OF   THE 
UNITED  STATES. 

Contrast  Between  Lincoln  and  Buchanan. — His  Lonely  Boyhood 
and  Severe  Youth. — The  Cause  of  his  Detestation  of  Slavery. — The 
Campaign  with  Douglas  in  Illinois  Introduces  him  to  the  Nation. — 
The  Irresistible  Magnetism  of  the  Rail-Splitter. — His  Nomination  at 
Chicago. — Deplorable  Condition  of  the  Country  at  the  Time  of  his 
Inauguration. — His  Resolve  to  Preserve  the  Union  at  all  Hazards. — 
Distressing  Effect  of  his  Assassination. — His  Personal  Appearance 
and  Power  of  Persuasion. — How  the  Future  will  Regard  the  Great 
President.  472 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

ANDREW  JOHNSON  AND  ULYSSES  S.  GRANT,  SEVEN- 
TEENTH AND  EIGHTEENTH  PRESIDENTS  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES. 

Johnson's  Early  Life  and  Hard  Struggles. — A  Tailor  who  was  more 
than  the  Ninth  Part  of  a  Man.— His  Views  of  Slavery  and  Seces- 
sion.—His  Personal  Courage  and  its  Good  Effects  Politically.— His 
Disagreement  with  Congress  about  Reconstruction.—  The  Impeach- 
ment Trial.— Grant  in  the  Mexican  War.— His  Incompetency  in 
Business.— Finding  his  Place  in  the  Civil  War.— His  Extraordinary 
Success  in  the  Field.— Called  to  Command  the  Army  of  the  Poto- 
mac.—His  Political  Mistakes  and  Greed  of  Power.  480 


CONTENTS.  XX111 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

RUTHERFORD  B.  HAYES,  JAMES  A.  GARFIELD,  AND 
CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR,  NINETEENTH,  TWENTIETH^ 
AND  TWENTY-FIRST  PRESIDENTS  OF  THE  UNITED 

STATES. 

Hayes  as  Lawyer,  Politician,  and  Soldier. — Nominated  because  an 
Ohioan. — The  Electoral  Commission. — Great  Outcry  Against  him, 
but  Still  a  Creditable  President. — Garfield's  Hard  Fight  with  Fortune 
at  the  Outset. — Ambition  to  be  a  Canal-Boat  Captain. — His  Career  in 
the  Army. — Leader  of  the  House  of  Representatives. — His  Admir- 
able Equipment  for  Political  Life. — His  Nomination  at  Chicago 
Wholly  Unexpected. — The  National  Sorrow  at  his  Assassination. — 
Arthur  Born  in  a  Log  Cabin,  and  Ruling  in  the  White  House.  491 


CHAPTER  I. 


CLEVELAND  IN  BOYHOOD  AND  EARLY  LIFE. 

Grover  Cleveland's  Career  a  Surprisingly  Interesting  Story. — The 
Cleveland  Genealogy.— The  Stock  Transplanted  to  Connecticut 
from  Massachusetts. — "A  Good  Race."— Grover  Cleveland's  Father 
and  Mother. — Their  Courtship  and  Marriage  in  Baltimore. — Grover's 
Birthplace  in  New  Jersey. — His  Father  Seeks  a  Wider  Field  as  a 
Minister,  and  Better  Support  for  his  Family,  in  New  York. — 
The  Youth  Outgrows  the  Village  School  and  Clamors  for  an  Educa- 
tion, but  Enters  a  Country  Store. — The  Removal  to  Clinton  and 
to  Holland  Patent. — He  hears  of  his  Father's  Sudden  Death  while 
walking  on  the  Street  with  his  Sister.  His  Widowed  Mother's 
Cares. — His  Parents'  Graves. — In  New  York  as  a  Teacher  of  the 
Blind. — His  Start  in  Buffalo. — Poverty  and  Hard  Work. — Was  there 
a  Romance? — Why  he  did  not  Enter  the  Army. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND  has  been  only  a  few  years 
conspicuous  in  public  life,  but  whoever  thinks  that  the 
material  for  his  biography  must  be  meagre  will  be  grati- 
fied, as  he  reads,  to  find  how  much  of  interest  there  is  in 
the  story  of  his  career.  He  belongs  to  the  eighth  genera- 
tion of  his  family  in  this  country,  unless  the  statement  of 

an  excellent  Massachusetts  newspaper,  the  Salem  Gazette, 
2 


26  CLEVELAND   IN"   BOYHOOD   AND   EARLY   LIFE. 

can  be  disproved,  for  on  July  18,  1884,  it  gave  the  fol- 
lowing account  of  Cleveland's  ancestry  since  the  arrival 
of  Moses  Cleveland  in  the  New  "World,  almost  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  ago: 

CLEVELAND   GENEALOGY. 

"  The  nomination  of  Grover  Cleveland  as  the  Demo- 
cratic candidate  for  President,  and  his  remote  connect  ion 
with  the  Clevelands  of  our  own  neighborhood,,  have  led 
U8  to  make  some  investigation  of  his  genealogy,  with  the 
following  results : 

"  Moses  Cleveland  came  to  this  country  an  apprentice 
to  a  '  joyner'  in  1635,  and  established  himself  in  Wohurn 
in  1648.  He  married  Ann,  daughter  of  Edward  Winn, 
on  September  26,  1648. 

"  lie  had  a  son  Aaron  (second  generation),  who  was 
born  on  January  10,  1654-5.  This  son  married  Dorcas 
Wilson  on  September  26,  1675.  She  died  on  November 
29,  1714.  He  died  on  September  14,  1716. 

"He  in  turn  had  a  son  Aaron  (third  generation),  who 
was  born  July  9,  1689.  lie  was  a  carpenter,  and  lived 
in  Woburn,  Cambridge,  and  Charlestown.  In  1738  he 
removed  to  Haddam,  Conn.  lie  married  Abigail -. 

7  C 

"He  had  a  son,  Rev.  Aaron  (fourth  generation),  who 
was  born  October  29,  1715,  graduated  at  Harvard  1735, 
settled  at  Haddam,  Conn.,  in  July,  1739,  and  married, 
August  4, 1739,  Susanna,  daughter  of  Rev.  Aaron  Porter, 


CLEVELAND   IN   BOYHOOD   AND   EARLY   LIFE.  27 

born  March  1,  1716.  He  died  August  11,  1757.  His 
widovy  died  at  Salem,  1788. 

"  He  had  a  son,  Rev.  Aaron  (fifth  generation),  who 
was  born  at  Haddam,  Conn.,  February  3,  1744,  and  died 
at  New  Haven,  September  21,  1815.  He  was  married, 
April  12,  1768,  to  Abiah  Hyde,  only  daughter  of  James 
and  Sarah  (Marshall)  Hyde,  of  Norwich,  Conn.  His 
wife  died  August  23,  1788. 

"  He  had  a  son  Charles  (sixth  generation),  who  was 
born  at  Norwich  on  June  11,  1772.  He  married, 
December  17,  1797,  Mehitable  Tread  well,  of  Salem,  a  sis- 
ter of  the  late  Dr.  John  D.  Treadwell.  Charles  was  for 
several  years  a  commission  merchant  in  Salern,  and  after- 
ward the  well-known  city  missionary  of  Boston.  He 
died  on  June  5, 1872,  within  sixteen  days  of  one  hundred 
years  of  age. 

"  His  brother,  William  (sixth  generation),  was  born  at 
Norwich  on  December  20,  1770  ;  married,  December  19, 
1793,  Margaret  Falley.  They  lived  at  "Worthington  and 
Salem,  Mass.,  and  at  Norwich,  Conn.  He  died  on 
August  18,  1837.  She  died  on  August  13,  1850. 

"  His  son,  Richard  F.  (seventh  generation),  was  born 
on  June  19,  1805,  at  Norwich,  Conn.  He  married 
Anna  Neale,  of  Baltimore,  Md.  They  removed  to  Hol- 
land Patent,  N.  Y.,  where  he  died  on  October  1,  1853. 

"  His  son,  Grover  (the  candidate),  was  born  on  March 
18,  1837. 


28  CLEVELAND    IN   BOYHOOD    AND    EARLY   LIFE. 

"  This  family  of  Clevelands  spell  the  name  without  the 
a  in  the  first  syllable.  The  descendants  of  Kev.  John,  of 
Essex,  generally  insert  the  a  in  the  first  syllable.  He 
was  a  grandson  of  Samuel,  of  Chelmsford  and  Canter- 
bury, Conn.,  who  was  the  third  son  of  Moses,  the  immi- 
grant ancestor  first  above  mentioned." 

THE   CLEVELANDS    IN    CONNECTICUT. 

The  great  great-grandfather  of  Grorer  Cleveland, 
Aaron  Cleveland,  repiesenting  the  third  generation  of 
the  family  in  America,  was  a  carpenter,  and  moved  from 
Woburn,  Mansachusetts,  to  Haddam,  Connecticut,  and 
the  stock  thus  transplanted  took  such  root  in  the  latter 
Stata  that  to  this  day  the  Clevelands  of  Connecticut  are 
well  known. 

Cleveland's  great-grandfather,  whose  first  name  was 
also  Aaron,  was  born  February  9,  1744,  in  East  Haddam, 
the  chief  of  the  many  Haddams  that  skirt  the  Connecti- 
cut River  below  Middletown.  He  lived  and  carried  on 
business  in  Xonvich  for  the  greater  part  of  an  active  life. 
The  local  records  are  quite  full  of  him,  less  as  a  success- 
ful hatter  than  as  a  versatile  speaker,  writer,  and  actor  in 
the  politics  of  his  time.  He  took  the  lead  in  the  opposi- 
tion to  slavery,  and,  being  dissatisfied  with  the  gradual 
emancipation  measure  adopted  in  1790,  he  introduced  a 
bill  in  the  Connecticut  Legislature,  where  he  repre- 
sented Norwich,  for  slavery's  abolishment.  Afterwards 


CLEVELAND   1ST   BOYHOOD   AND   EARLY  LIFE.  29 

lie  was  a  Congregational  minister  in  Vermont.  He 
finally  died  in  New  Haven  in  1815,  regarded  by  every 
one  as  a  stanch  antislavery  Republican. 

He  left  a  family  of  thirteen  children,  and  of  these,  his 
son  Charles,  born  in  1772  in  Norwich,  became  a  city  mis- 
sionary in  Boston  and  was  widely  known  as  "  Father 
Cleveland."  A  daughter,  the  youngest  of  the  thirteen 
children,  married  the  well-known  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  H. 
Coxe,  whose  son,  Arthur  Cleveland  Coxe,  is  Episcopal 
Bishop  of  Western  New  York. 

The  Hartford  Times  of  July  14,  1884,  made  the 
following  interesting  reference  to  the  Cleveland  family 
in  that  State :  "  The  Clevelands  are  a  good  race ;  we 
in  Connecticut  know  them  here  at  home.  There  is  ex- 
Governor  Chauncey  F.  Cleveland,  of  Windham  County 
— one  of  the  best  Governors  Connecticut  ever  had  ;  a 
noble  man  and  much-esteemed  citizen  ;  still  living  in 
his  hale  and  hearty  old  age,  respected  by  everybody ; 
one  of  the  remaining  men  of  a  day  when  men  of  high 
and  marked  character  were  oftener  found  in  proportion 
to  population  than  now.  There,  too,  was  his  brother, 
Mason  Cleveland — once  the  State  Comptroller  ;  a  man 
of  sterling  character,  strong  good  sense,  and  excellent 
practical  judgment.  He  was  a  man  of  marked  and 
strong  character,  honorably  and  very  widely  known  at 
home,  notwithstanding  his  modesty,  but  greater  yet 
than  his  reputation.  There  are  such  men,  not  loud 


30  CLEVELAND   Itf    BOYHOOD   AND    EARLY    LIFE. 

or  self-vaunting,  but  of  sterling  character,  though  of 
few  words :  and  Mason  Cleveland's  younger  cousin,  the 
New  York  Governor,  who  now  stands  so  prominently 
before  the  country,  seems  to  be  one  of  the  number.'' 

"Father  Cleveland's"  younger  brother,  William,  the 
second  son  of  Rev.  Aaron  Cleveland,  the  grandfather  of 
Grover  Cleveland,  was  a  silversmith  by  trade,  and  lived 
for  the  greater  part  of  his  life  at  Bean  Hill,  on  the  out- 
skirts of  Norwich. 

The  ancestors  of  Millard  Fillmore  and  Rutherford  B. 
Hayes  were  residents  of  historic  Bean  Hill.  The  house 
in  which  William  Cleveland  spent  his  life  is  still  stand- 
ing, its  lichened  roof  shadowed  by  elms,  not  far  from 
the  Bean  Hill  green.  Its  straight,  old-fashioned,  drab- 
colored  front  rises  two  stories  and  a  half,  almost  flush 
with  the  street,  and  its  antique  porch,  whose  peak  is 
set  thickly  with  odd  little  diamond  glass  panes,  stands 
almost  over  the  sidewalk.  A  polished  brass  door-latcli 
glistens  in  the  random  sunbeams  that  are  shot  through 
the  loft}'  tree-branches.  Country -dooryard  plants  nod 
against  the  windows.  The  house  and  its  surroundings 
wear  the  air  of  stiff  and  prim  respectability  in  dignified 
old  age.  To  the  south  are  fresh,  open  meadows.  The 
next  building  on  the  north  is  the  Bean  Hill  meeting- 
house, fronting  on  the  green.  From  1812  to  his  dearh, 
twenty-five  years  later,  William  Cleveland  was  a  deacon 
of  the  First  Congregational  Church  ;  that  is  just  around 


CLEVELAND  IN  BOYHOOD   AND   EARLY   LIFE.  31 

a  bend  in  the  road,  at  the  Norwichtown  green,  an  old- 
fashioned,  belfry-crowned  edifice,  whose  western  gable 
barely  rises  level  with  the  vertical  cliffs  behind  the 
building. 

GKOVER  CLEVELAND'S  FATHER  AND  MOTHER. 

Richard  F.  Cleveland,  the  second  son  of  TVilliam, 
the  silversmith,  was  Grover  Cleveland's  father.  lie  was 
born  in  Norwich,  June  19,  1804.  He  is  described  as 
a  thin,  pale,  intellectual  boy,  who  entered  Yale  College 
in  1820  and  graduated  in  1824,  with  sixty-seven  others, 
nearly  all  of  whom  have  since  died.  He  went  almost 
immediately  after  graduation  to  Baltimore  to  teach,  and 
it  was  in  that  city  that  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Miss 
Anna  Neal,  the  young  lady  who  a  few  years  later  became 
his  wife.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Abner  Neal,  and  her 
Southern  blood  is  believed  to  be  easily  discernible  in  the 
temperament  of  her  children.  She  lived  until  the  sum- 
mer of  1882,  almost  long  enough  to  see  her  distinguished 
son  inaugurated  as  Governor  of  his  State,  and  the  affec- 
tion existing  between  them  was  more  than  the  ordinary 
love  of  mother  and  son,  as  his  tender  care  for  her  com- 
fort and  happiness  to  the  end  of  her  life  showed.  How- 
ever great  the  pressure  of  business  and  official  cares,  he 
never  failed  to  pay  her  a  visit  at  the  old  homestead  at 
least  twice  each  year. 

The   marriage  of   Cleveland's   parents  did  not  occur 


32  CLEVELAND  IN   BOYHOOD   AND   EARLY  LIFE. 

until  1829,  a  year  after  his  father  had  left  Baltimore, 
been  ordained  a  Presbyterian  minister,  and  taken  charge 
of  a  church  at  Windham,  near  Norwich,  in  his  native 
State.  After  their  marriage  Mr.  Cleveland  preached 
in  the  South  for  a  time,  and  then  they  removed  to  New 
Jersey.  Down  in  the  obscure  town  of  Caldwell,  Essex 
County,  in  that  State,  there  stands  yet  a  little  two-and-a- 
half-story  white  house  with  wooden  shutters,  where,  on 
March  18,  1837,  was  born  Stephen  Grover  Cleveland, 
five  months  to  a  day  before  his  grandfather  William  died. 
He  was  named  for  his  father's  predecessor  in  the  pastor- 
ate, but  dropped  the  first  name,  always  a  nuisance  when 
one  is  called  by  the  second. 

THE  REMOVAL   TO    NEW   YORK. 

In  1841,  when  Eev.  Eichard  F.  Cleveland  moved 
from  New  Jersey  to  Fayetteville,  New  York,  his  family 
had  become  large,  and  he  felt  the  need  of  a  larger  in- 
come as  well  as  the  desire  for  a  wider  field  of  ministerial 
endeavor.  Grover  was  only  three  years  of  age  at  the 
time,  and  his  recollection  of  the  journey  is  very  in- 
distinct, but  it  was  made  chiefly  by  way  of  the  Hudson 
Eiver  and  the  Erie  Canal.  Fayetteville  was  then  a 
straggling  country  village,  about  five  miles  from  Porn  pey 
Hill,  where  Governor  Seymour  was  born.  Young  Cleve- 
land attended  the  village  school  for  several  years,  but  he 
outgrew  its  advantages,  and  a  desire  for  the  privileges  of 


CLEVELAND   IN   BOYHOOD   AND    EARLY    LIFE.  33 

an  academy  brought  a  test  of  the  quality  of  firmness  for 
•which  his  family  is  remarkable,  and  while  the  youth, 
then  about  fourteen  years  of  age,  clamored  for  an  educa- 
tion, the  father  insisted,  probably  because  of  the  pinch 
of  poverty,  that  his  son  should  begin  a  business  life ;  and 
age  was  victorious  in  the  controversy. 

IN   A   COUNTRY    STOKE. 

A  pastor  with  a  large  family  had  not  a  little  influence 
•with  the  merchant  of  whom  his  supplies  were  purchased, 
and  Grover  was  soon  at  work  in  the  country  store. 
Fifty  dollars  was  to  be  paid  the  boy  the  first  year,  and 
if  he  proved  trustworthy  he  was  to  receive  one  hundred 
dollars  the  second  year. 

There  is  a  tradition  in  Fayetteville  that  young  Cleve- 
land proved  himself  so  trustworthy  that  his  employers 
were  delighted  with  him,  and  one  who  has  searched  his 
record  in  that  town  has  found  it  to  be  a  record  of  sim- 
ple, unswerving  integrity  and  untiring  loyalty  to  the 
interests  of  the  boy's  employers. 

In  1847  Grover's  father  was  appointed  Secretary  of 
the  Home  Missionary  Society,  and  when  the  minister 
and  his  large  family  moved  to  Clinton.  Oneida  County, 
the  boy  attended  the  high-school;  but  in  1853  the  Cleve- 
lands  again  moved,  going  up  the  Black  River  to  what 
was  then  known  as  the  Holland  Patent — a  village  of  five 

or  six  hundred  people — fifteen  miles   north   of  Utica. 
2* 


34  CLEVELAND    IN   BOYHOOD    AND    EARLY   LIFE. 

The  elder  Cleveland  preached  in  the  place  some  months, 
and  was  installed  on  October  1st  of  that  year,  but  after 
preaching  three  Sundays  more  he  suddenly  died  at  the 
age  of  forty-nine  years.  Grover  first  heard  of  his 
father's  death  while  walking  with  his  sister  in  the 
streets  of  Utica. 

A  Utica  newspaper  said,  in  July,  1884:  "On  the  first 
corner  as  one  passes  through  the  village  of  Holland 
Patent,  on  the  road  from  this  city  to  Trenton  Falls, 
stands  an  old  brown  house.  The  structure  show?  at  a 
glance  that  it  was  built  years  ago,  when  carpenters  put 
beams  in  wooden  houses,  and  when  balloon-frames  were 
unknown.  The  upright  part  is  two  stories,  and  its  pro- 
portions offer  commodious  accommodations  for  a  large 
family.  A  generous  wing  affords  a  sitting-room  and  other 
apartments.  It  was  to  this  house  that,  more  than  thirty 
years  ago,  the  Rev.  Richard  F.  Cleveland  brought  his 
family.  He  came  to  occupy  the  pulpit  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian church  at  Holland  Patent  as  the  regular  pastor.  A 
man  of  more  than  ordinary  ability,  possessed  of  a  fine 
voice,  a  bright  mind,  and  a  clear  head,  he  found  favor 
with  his  parishioners.  He  was  a  Presbyterian  in  all  that 
the  term  implies,  and  believed  the  teachings  of  that 
church.  He  was  withal  a  man  of  broad  and  liberal  cul- 
ture, and  liberal  in  ideas  as  well.  As  lie  went  in  and  out 
among  his  people  they  came  to  admire  his  personal  and 
social  qualities  in  a  degree  second  only  to  their  admlra- 


CLEVELAND    IX    BOYHOOD    AND    EARLY    LIFE.  35 

tion  for  his  talents  as  displayed  in  the  desk.  His  home- 
life  was  a  model  of  consistency  and  uprightness,  and 
he  brought  up  his  children  in  the  way  they  should  go. 
Well  educated  himself,  he  desired  for  them  the  same 
advantages.  By  precept  and  example  he  sought  to 
make  of  them  men  and  women  who  in  after-life  would 
be  a  credit  to  the  name  he  had  given  them.  One  has 
to  talk  but  a  moment  to  the  older  residents  of  Holland 
Patent  to  learn  the  esteem  in  which  they  hold  the  mem- 
ory of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cleveland.  Unfortunately  for  the 
church  which  prospered  under  his  guidance,  and  for  the 
members  who  reverenced  and  loved  him,  in  less  than  six 
months  from  the  commencement  of  his  labors  the  pastor 
ended  his  work  on  earth,  and  a  village  of  mourners  fol- 
lowed his  mortal  remains  to  the  cemetery  and  laid  them 
to  rest. 

"Mrs.  Anna  Cleveland  was  left  with  a  family  of  nine 
children  to  watch  over  and  prepare  for  the  duties  of 
active  life.  The  children  were  of  no  ordinary  cast.  As 
a  white-haired  man  who  had  lived  a  neighbor  to  them 
for  thirty  years  said  yesterday :  '  Such  a  woman  could 
not  have  had  bad  children.'  Mrs.  Cleveland  was  in  all 
respects  a  superior  woman.  In  appearance  she  was  dig- 
nified and  with  a  kindly  face,  and  at  any  gathering  she 
would  be  noticed.  Her  children  loved  and  respected 
her,  and  to  the  day  of  her  death  bestowed  upon  her  the 
tokens  of  their  affection.  Home  to  them  was  always 


36  CLEVELAND   IN   BOYHOOD   AND    EARLY   LIFE. 

the  most  attractive  place  on  earth,  a  very  haven  of  rest. 
And  so  she  lived  till  April  19,  1882,  when,  at  the  age 
of  seventy-eight  years,  her  life-work  was  ended,  and  she, 
too,  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  village  burial-plot." 

THE  GRAVES  OF  CLEVELAND'S  PARENTS. 

The  graves  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cleveland  are 
side  by  side  in  a  well-kept  lot  of  the  Holland  Patent 
Cemetery.  The  children  have  erected  a  beautiful  monu- 
ment to  mark  the  spot.  The  stone  bears  this  inscrip- 
tion: 

Rev.  R  F.  CLEVELAND, 

Pastor  at 
Holland  Patent, 
f        Died  Oct.  1,  1853, 
Aged  49  years. 


ANNA  NEAL, 

Wife  of 

R.  F.  Cleveland, 

Died  July  10,  1882, 

Aged  78  years. 

Her  children  arise  up 
And  call  her  blessed. 


The  same  stone  also  bears  an  inscription  to  the  mem- 
ory of  the  brothers,  Richard  C.  and  Lewis  F.,  aged 
thirty-seven  and  thirty-one  years  respectively,  who  were 
drowned  at  sea  when  the  steamship  Missouri  burned  off 


CLEVELAND   IN    BOYHOOD   AND   EARLY   LIFE.  37 

the  island  of  Abaco,  October  22,  1872.  Below  are  the 
words : 

"  Lovely  and  pleasant  in  their  lives,  and  in  their  death 
they  were  not  divided." 

A   TEACHER   OF   THE    BLIND   IN    NEW   YOKE. 

The  death  of  the  father  broke  up  the  Cleveland  house- 
hold, and  G  rover,  then  sixteen  years  of  age,  started  for 
New  York,  where  he  spent  a  year  as  a  teacher  in  the 
New  York  Blind  Asylum,  Thirty-fourth  Street  and 
Ninth  Avenue.  His  experiences  in  teaching  the  blind 
were  by  no  means  pleasant,  and  he  appears  to  have  been 
engaged  in  this  sort  of  work  in  New  York  about  the 

&     S 

same  time,  and  for  the  same  length  of  time,  that  Mr. 
Blaine  occupied  a  similar  position  in  Philadelphia. 

Discovering  that  teaching  was  not  his  calling,  he 
started  for  the  West,  with  the  purpose  of  finding  his 
fortune  in  Cleveland, — attracted  to  that  city,  it  is  said, 
by  its  bearing  the  same  name  as  himself.  But  he 
stopped  in  Buffalo  to  visit  an  uncle,  Lewis  F.  Allen,  a 
noted  stock-breeder  and  a  man  valued  and  distinguished 
in  local  public  service. 

"  His  uncle,"  says  one  who  knew  him,  "  was  a  severe 
Presbyterian  ;  not  exactly  a  miser,  but  a  strict  and  un- 
yielding business  man,  who  believed  that  every  boy 
should  make  his  own  place  in  life  by  his  own  energies 
and  applications.  Mr.  Allen  persuaded  his  nephew  that 


38          CLEVELAND   IN   BOYHOOD   AND    EARLY    LIFE. 

Buffalo  was  as  favorable  a  place  as  Cleveland  to  grow  in, 
but  without  any  compunctious  of  conscience  he  made 
him  work  hard  to  keep  himself  in  food  and  common 
raiment  while  he  was  studying  his  profession  of  the 
law." 

HIS   STAKT   IN   BUFFALO. 

The  young  man  had  no  money  on  which  to  begin 
studying  law,  and  he  took  his  uncle's  offer  to  help  him 
get  out  his  herd-book  for  fifty  dollars  a  year.  At  the 
same  time  he  obtained  a  place  as  office-boy  with  RO^TS, 
Bowen  &  Rogers,  with  the  privilege  of  using  the  law 
library,  and  worked  his  passage  assiduously,  walking  two 
miles  back  and  forth  between  the  law-office  and  his  un- 
cle's at  Black  Rock,  and  without  overshoes  or  overcoat 
in  the  severe  winter.  He  helped  edit  Mr.  Allen's  "breed- 
book"  a  second  year,  but  still  kept  at  work  at  the  law- 
office. 

His  uncle's  favor  was  won  by  his  manliness  and  hard 
work,  as  the  following  incident  may  indicate : 

"See  here,"  said  Mr.  Allen  to  him  one  bitter  Decem- 
ber night  when  the  lad  had  walked  out  to  Black  Rock 
through  the  sleet  and  snow,  "this  is  pretty  cold  weather 
for  you  to  be  travelling  without  an  overcoat." 

"  Oh,"  said  the  young  man,  "  I'm  going  to  buy  one 
when  I  earn  the  money." 

"  Why,  look  at  your  feet ;  they  must  be  sopping,  eh  f 


GROVER  CLEVELAND'S  STUDENT  LIFE. 

1.    Studying  Blackstone.  2.    A  Two  Mile  Tramp  Home. 


CLEVELAND   IN"   BOYHOOD    AND    EARLY   LIFE.  41 

"Oh,  that's  nothing.  I'm  getting  some  copying  to  do 
now,  and  I'll  have  a  pair  of  boots  by  and  by." 

"  You  just  go  right  over  there  to  the  tailor's  and  get 
the  stoutest  overcoat  he's  got.  D'ye  hear  ?" 

A   DEBT   WHICH    REVEALS    HIS    EARLY    STRUGGLES.  < 

It  was  not  until  he  became  sheriff  that  he  could  save 
much  money,  but  an  extract  from  the  New  York  Sun  of 
March  31,  1883,  shows  that  two  years  before  he  reached 
that  office  he  contrived  to  pay  a  debt  to  an  old  friend. 
The  following  appeared  in  that  journal : 

"  UTICA,  March  30. — Ingham  Townsend,  of  Floyd, 
Oneida  County,  died  on  Tuesday,  aged  eighty-four  years. 
He  had  lived  in  Floyd  all  his  life,  and  was  well  known 
as  a  warm-hearted,  upright,  benevolent  man.  He  was 
elected  to  the  State  Legislature  in  1857.  At  one  time  he 
was  wealthy.  He  assisted  many  young  men  with  means 
to  start  in  life.  Among  the  number  whom  he  aided  was 
the  present  Governor  of  New  York  State.  The  follow- 
ing letter,  written  to  his  benefactor  by  Grover  Cleveland, 
will  serve  to  illustrate  one  of  the  acts  of  charity  for  which 
Mr.  Townsend  was  distinguished  : 

"  'BUFFALO,  Jan.  23,  1867. 

"  '  The  Hon.  Ingham  Townsend. 
\ 

"'DEAR  SIR:  I  am  now  in  condition  to  pay  my  note 

which  you  hold,  given  for  money  borrowed  some  years 


42          CLEVELAND   IN   BOYHOOD   AND   EARLY   LIFE. 

ago.  I  suppose  I  might  have  paid  it  long  before,  but  I 
have  never  thought  you  were  in  need  of  it,  and  I  hud 
other  purposes  for  my  money.  I  have  forgotten  the  date 
of  the  note.  If  you  will  send  me  it,  I  will  mail  you  the 
principal  and  interest.  The  loan  you  made  me  was  my 
start  in  life,  and  I  shall  always  preserve  the  note  as  an 
interesting  reminder  of  your  kindness.  Let  me  hear 
from  you  soon.  With  many  kind  wishes  to  Mrs. 
Townseud  and  your  family,  I  am  yours  very  respect- 
fully, 

" '  GROVER  CLEVELAND.' 

"Mr.  Townsend  told  Mr.  Cleveland  when  he  gave  him 
the  money  that  he  need  never  return  it,  but  if  he  ever 
met  with  a  young  man  in  a  similar  condition  to  give  it 
to  him  if  he  had  it  to  spare.  Mr.  Cleveland  insisted  on 
returning  it,  however." 

"THAT'S  WHERE  THEY  ALL  BEGIN." 

Young  Cleveland  received  only  three  or  four  dollars  a 
week  for  his  services  as  a  boy  in  the  law-office,  and  on 
the  first  day  of  his  experience  there  his  senior  employer 
had  taken  a  copy  of  Blackstone,  and  planting  it  before 
him  with  a  bang  that  made  the  dust  fly,  said,  "  That's 
where  they  all  begin."  There  was  a  titter  ran  round  the 
little  circle  of  clerks,  but  he  was  undaunted,  and  it  was 


CLEVELAND   IN"  BOYHOOD   AND   EARLY  LIFE.  43 

soon  noticed  that  he  was  the  most  punctual  and  regular 
of  the  lads  in  the  office.  Indeed,  so  absorbed  was  he  in 
the  book  one  night  that  they  locked  him  in  and  all  went 
off. 

Four  years  in  the  office  of  Rogers,  Bowen  &  Rogers 
as  a  student  gave  him  sufficient  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence to  become  managing  clerk,  and  in  his  twenty-second 
year  he  was  admitted  to  practice  at  the  bar. 

WAS  THERE  AN  EARLY  ROMANCE? 

A  resident  of  Buffalo  who  professes  to  know  whereof  he 
affirms  says  :  "  The  city  is  full  of  reminiscences  of  his  fight 
for  a  place  here,  but  probably  not  three  people  in  Buffalo 
know  why  he  never  married  ;  perhaps  none  do.  The  mis- 
hap that  left  him  to  tread  the  wine-press  of  life  alone  was 
a  painful  one ;  but  it  left  the  sting  before  he  came  here. 
Ever  since  his  residence  in  Buffalo  he  has  lived  with  his 
law-books  and  in  his  profession.  Although  he  is  reputed 
to  be  a  good,  genial  companion,  fond  of  life  and  the 
world,  he  has  shunned  society  and  lived  for  his  mother 
and  sisters,  who  needed  his  help.  Probably  more  preach- 
ers were  reared  out  of  his  family  than  any  other  in  the 
country.  They  all  taught  the  doctrines  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  for  a  small  price,  and  died  poor.  Mr. 
Cleveland's  father  left  nine  children,  about  his  only  avail- 
able assets  when  he  died.  Hence  it  went  out  that  he 


44  CLEVELAND   IN   BOYHOOD   AND   EARLY   LIFE. 

was  too  poor  to  marry  until  so  well  grounded  in  his 
bachelor  ways  that  he  could  not  be  tempted  from  them 
by  the  comeliest  girl  in  the  land.  There  are  no  tradi- 
tions that  he  ever  courted  a  lass.  Yet  it  is  true  that  he 
did,  and  that  the  picture  of  that  one  still  remains  by  his 
side." 


WHY   CLEVELAND   DID   NOT   ENTER   THE   ARMY. 

Younjr  Cleveland  was  known  as  a  war-Democrat,  and 

O  7 

the  following  statement,  by  one  qualified  to  speak  upon  a 
subject  which  has  frequently  excited  speculation,  pos- 
sesses interest  and  value : 

"At  the  opening  of  the  war  it  was  a  question  whether 
he  should  enter  the  army  or  not.  He  was  entirely  ready 
and  willing  to  do  so,  but  his  father  had  died  some  time 
before  and  left  a  widowed  mother,  poor  and  with  a  large 
family,  several  of  whom  were  daughters.  Provision  had 
to  be  made  for  their  support,  and  yet  the  family  felt 
obliged  to  contribute  in  some  way  to  the  cause  of  the 
Union.  A  sort  of  family  council  was  held.  Grover  had 
just  been  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Buffalo,  and  was  lu-gin. 
ning  to  have  some  practice.  Two  younger  brothers  vol- 
unteered to  go  to  the  army  and  leave  Grover  at  home  to 
support  their  mother  and  sisters.  This  was  agreed  to  all 
around,  and  the  two  brothers  went  to  the  front  and 
served  with  honor  till  the  war  closed.  When  peace  was 


CLEVELAND   IN   BOYHOOD    AND   EAELY   LIFE.  45 

declared  they  returned  home,  but  were  soon  afterwards 
lost  at  sea.  Grover  Cleveland  was  the  first  man  drafted 
in  Buffalo.  He  promptly  supplied  a  substitute,  who 
made  a  faithful  soldier." 

Like  Mr.  Cleveland,  Mr.  Elaine  was  drafted ;  and  like 
Mr.  Cleveland,  he  paid  for  a  substitute. 


CHAPTER  II. 


CLEVELAND    AS  .  A    LAWYER   AND    AS 
MAYOR  OF  BUFFALO. 

Cleveland's  Beginning  in  Official  Life. — Assistant  District-Attor- 
ney of  Erie  County  at  Twenty-five  Years  of  Age. — Hard  Work  Wins 
a  Nomination  for  District-Attorney. — His  Term  as  Sheriff. — An 
Answer  to  a  Fling  that  he  was  a  Hangman. — His  Character  as  a 
Lawyer. — Buffalo  under  Ring  Rule. — Cleveland's  Reputation 
Makes  him  a  Candidate  for  Mayor. — His  Speech  accepting  the 
Nomination. — Supported  by  Voters  of  all  Parties. — A  Great 
Majority. — His  Inaugural  Declaration.— He  Saves  a  Million  in  Six 
Months. — His  Beginning  as  a  Vetoer. — His  Address  on  the  Duties  of 
the  Government  to  Americans  Abroad. — His  Course  as  Mayor  gives 
him  National  Fame. 

GROYER  CLEVELAND  won  a  reputation  through- 
out  the  "Empire  State"  by  his  admirable  administration 
of  the  office  of  Mayor  of  Buffalo,  and  peculiar  interest 
attaches  to  that  part  of  his  history  which  relates  to  his 
work  as  a  reformer  in  his  own  city.  As  a  preface  to  the 
story  of  his  achievement  as  "Buffalo's  reform  Mavur," 
an  account  of  his  service  in  subordinate  offices  and  of  his 
practice  as  a  lawyer  should  be  given. 


CLEVELAND  AS  A  LAWYER   AND  AS  MAYOR.  47 

HIS   FIRST   PUBLIC   OFFICE. 

It  was  when  Cleveland  was  nearly  twenty-five 
years  of  age  that  the  question  who  should  be 
appointed  assistant  district-attorney  for  the  county 
of  Erie  was  warmly  discussed  by  the  young  law- 
yers in  Messrs.  Rogers  &  Bowen's  offices  in  Buf- 
falo. There  were  several  both  eligible  and  anxious, 
but  young  Cleveland  did  not  advance  his  own  claims, 
it  is  said.  Indeed,  all  agreed  that  he  was  the  per- 
son who  ought  to  have  the  position,  and  they  urged 
him  to  accept  it.  lie  was  appointed,  and  from  that 
moment  his  public  record  began.  The  burden  of  the 
district-attorney's  work  fell  upon  him,  but  it  was  just  the 
discipline  young  Cleveland  needed,  and  he  bore  it  so 
well  that  at  the  end  of  three  years'  service  the  Demo- 
crats nominated  him  for  the  district-attorneyship. 

It  is  an  indisputable  fact  that  he  did  not  solicit  the 
nomination,  hesitated  to  accept  it,  and  did  not  turn  his 
hand  over  to  secure  his  election.  The  story  is  told  in 
Buffalo  that  on  the  day  of  election  he  was  trying  a  case 
in  court  while  his  friends  were  electioneering  for  him  on 
the  street,  and  the  judge  on  the  bench,  who  was  an  ad- 
mirer of  his,  peremptorily  adjourned  the  case  and  told 
Cleveland  to  go  and  attend  to  his  interests. 

He  was  beaten  by  the  Republican  candidate.  Lyman 
K.  Bass.  This  was  in  1865.  In  1866  Mr.  Cleveland 


48  CLEVELAND   AS   A    LAWYER    AND    AS    MAYOR. 

formed  a  law-partnership  with  the  late  I.  K.  Yonder- 
pool,  which  lasted  till  1869.  In  1867  he  admitted 
to  the  firm  the  late  A.  P.  Lansing  and  the  late  Oscar 
Folsora.  The  latter  association,  however,  ended  at  the 
expiration  of  two  years,  owing  to  Mr.  Cleveland  having 
been  nominated  and  elected  in  1869  to  be  sheriff. 

HIS    WORK    AS    SHERIFF. 

As  sheriff  of  Erie  County  he  had  his  first  opportunity 
to  show  the  executive  qualities  which  have  since  been 
exercised  so  successfully  on  wider  fields.  lie  won  public 
respect  by  his  strict  administration  of  the  office  without 
regard  to  partisan  interest.  It  became  his  duty  to  hang 
two  murderers,  one  a  man  who  shot  his  partner  over  a 
game  of  cards  in  a  liquor-saloon,  the  other  a  wretch  who 
stubbed  his  mother. 

The  fling  of  the  Boston  Traveller  that  "if  Grover 
Cleveland  is  elected  President  he  will  be  the  first  man  to 
hold  that  office  who  has  ever  performed  the  duties  of  a 
public  executioner"  drew  from  a  prominent  Boston 
journalist  the  following  excellent  statement  as  to  Sheriff 
Cleveland's  unflinching  performance  of  a  disagreeable 
duty  : 

"This  unworthy  attempt  to  excite  prejudice  against  a 
man  who,  in  a  high  official  capacity,  performed  even  the 
most  disagreeable  duties  incident  to  the  position  without 
shrinking,  is  probably  based  upon  a  misconception  of  our 


CLEVELAND    AS   A    LAWYER    AND    AS   MAYOR.  49 

American  institutions.  A  public  executioner  in  this 
country  is  not  a  man  like  Marwood  or  Colcraft,  ap- 
pointed with  special  reference  to  that  service.  He  is 
usually  the  high  sheriff  of  the  county  in  which  the  crime 
to  be  punished  with  death  has  been  committed.  The 
office  of  sheriff  is  considered  one  of  the  most  honorable 
as  well  as  one  of  the  most  responsible  that  can  be  held 
by  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  a  man  who  per- 
forms its  duties  and  meets  its  exactions  in  a  manner  satis- 
factory to  the  highest  sentiment  of  that  immediate 
portion  of  the  public  which  he  serves  is  a  man  to  be 
trusted.  This  Governor  Cleveland  did.  The  courts 
sentenced  two  men  to  be  hanged  and  Sheriff  Cleveland 
hanged  them,  with  the  strictest  observance  of  the  pro- 
prieties of  the  occasion.  We  do  not  remember  whether 
any  of  our  former  Presidents  were  ever  similarly  circum- 
stanced or  not ;  but  the  best  of  them,  from  Washington 
down,  would  not  have  recoiled  from  their  plain  duty  had 
this  disagreeable  necessity  confronted  them.  President 
Jackson  said  considerable  about  hanging,  and  he  would 
have  united  the  office  of  executioner  with  that  of  chief 
magistrate  had  it  been  necessary  to  carry  out  his  ideas  of 
justice.  We  haven't  much  respect  for  innuendo  of  this 
kind,  yet  we  are  not  particularly  sorry  to  see  it  made  use 
of.  It  cannot  hurt  our  candidate,  and  it  shows  how  des- 
perate is  the  strait  of  his  opponents  when  they  attempt 
to  turn  admitted  acts  of  duty  to  his  prejudice." 


50          CLEVELAND   AS   A   LAWYER   AND   AS   MAYOR. 
AS   A   LAWYER. 

On  the  completion  of  his  term  as  sheriff  Mr.  Cleve- 
land entered  into  a  law -partnership  with  his  former 
antagonist,  L.  K.  Bass,  and  Wilson  S.  Bisscll ;  but  Mr. 
Bass's  health  not  long  afterwards  failed,  so  that  he  went  to 
Colorado,  and  since  then  the  firm  has  become  Cleveland, 
Bissell  &  Sicardj  and  ranks  among  the  foremost  in  west- 
ern New  York. 

Says  one  who  knows  him  thoroughly:  "Asa  lawyer 
Mr.  Cleveland's  reputation  has  not  been  gained  by  any 
showy  qualities  either  of  exceptional  eloquence  or  bril- 
liant management,  but  by  a  certain  assurance  of  solid 
and  trustworthy  judgment.  He  was  clear,  simple,  and 
convincing  in  his  arguments,  and  avoided  the  technical 
dodges  so  prevalent  with  the  profession,  and  his  mastery 
of  whatever  case  he  undertook  was  thorough.  G rover 
Cleveland  achieved  his  distinction  as  a  lawyer  for  legal 
acumen  and  intellectual  honesty.  His  jury  and  bench 
trials  were  distinguished  by  clear  views,  direct,  simple 
logic,  and  a  thorough  mastery  of  all  the  intricacies  of  the 
cases,  and  he  secured  the  respect  of  his  own  profession 
and  the  admiration  of  the  public." 

A  Philadelphia  newspaper-correspondent  who  visited 
Buffalo  soon  after  Governor  Cleveland  was  nominated  for 
the  Presidency  relates  the  following:  "I  went  into  the 
spacious  offices  this  morning,  but  not  one  of  the  old  firm 


CLEVELAND   AS   A   LAWYER   AND   AS   MAYOR.  51 

was  there.  Only  one  is  alive,  nnd  he  is  in  Europe.  Mr. 
Cleveland  has  had  four  or  five  law-partnerships  with  the 
strong  men  of  this  city,  and  all  say  he  was  a  valuable 
business  companion.  His  career  as  a  lawyer  is  well  de- 
fined in  this  region,  and  his  reputation  well  established. 
Mr.  Milburn,  a  bright  young  man,  now  a  partner  iii  the 
law-firm  where  the  Governor  studied,  said  to  me  this 
morning:  'It  amuses  me  to  hear  this  talk  about  Mr. 
Cleveland's  lack  of  ability.  He  is  the  strongest  char- 
acter I  ever  knew  without  a  national  reputation.  He  is 
a  fine  lawyer.  He  is  incapable  of  wilful  wrong,  and 
nothing  on  earth  could  sweep  him  from  his  conviction  of 
duty.  That  he  is  thoroughly  honest  cannot  be  ques- 
tioned, and  without  being  what  might  be  called  a  bril- 
liant man  he  has  always  been  regarded  as  an  able  and 
safe  one  in  every  relation  of  life.' " 

BUFFALO   UNDER   RING   RULE. 

The  following  is  an  account  by  a  well-informed 
writer  as  to  the  situation  in  Buffalo  when  Grover 
Cleveland  was  called  to  be  Mayor  of  that  city : 

"  The  mayoralty  had  been  held  for  several  terms  by 
unworthy  and  incompetent  men,  elected  by  a  combina- 
tion of  rogues  who  owned  the  city  council,  and  plun- 
dered the  city  in  the  same  way  New  York  was  plundered 
under  Tweed  and  his  mayors  and  boards  of  aldermen. 
The  government  was  nominally  Republican,  but  the 


52  CLEVELAND   AS   A   LAWYER   AND   AS   MAYOR. 

party  was  rent  by  dissensions,  and  its  better  elements 
were  ready  to  help  the  Democrats  in  any  honest  move- 
ment for  reform." 

Mr.  Cleveland's  impartial  and  satisfactory  service  as 
law  officer  and  as  sheriff  of  the  comity  made  him  the 
one  person  for  the  Democrats  to  choose,  and  it  was  his 
reputation  that  turned  the  attention  of  the  people  of 
Buffalo  to  him  when  they  were  seeking  for  a  man  strong 
enough  to  redeem  the  city  from  the  ring  under  which  it 
was  suffering. 

So  vitally  important  was  the  struggle,  that  other  things 
were  for  the  moment  forgotten,  and  the  country  turned 
aside  to  watch  the  contest  in  Buffalo.  The  people  de- 
clared for  the  reform  candidate,  regardless  of  party  re- 
lations ;  and  it  is  strictly  true  that  Cleveland  was  swept 
into  office  on  one  of  those  tidal-waves  of  popular  pro- 
test against  ring  rule  which  are  as  resistless  as  they  are 
sudden. 

CLEVELAND'S  SPEECH  AS  A  CANDIDATE  FOE  MAYOR. 

Perhaps  no  better  revelation  of  the  man  was  ever 
made  than  in  the  speecli  in  which  he  accepted  the 
nomination  for  Mayor  of  Buffalo.  To  the  assembled 
representatives  of  his  party  he  said  : 

"  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVENTION  :  I  am  informed 
that  you  have  bestowed  upon  me  the  nomination  for  the 
office  of  Mayor.  It  certainly  is  a  great  honor  to  be 


CLEVELAND   AS  A   LAWYER   AND  AS   MAYOR.  53 

thought  fit  to  be  chief  officer  of  a  great  and  prosperous 
city  like  ours,  having  such  important  and  varied  inter- 
ests. I  hoped  that  your  choice  might  fall  upon  some 
other  and  more  worthy  member  of  the  city  Democracy, 
for  personal  and  private  considerations  have  made  the 
question  of  acceptance  on  my  part  a  difficult  one.  But 
because  I  am  a  Democrat,  and  because  I  think  no  one 
has  a  right,  at  this  time  of  all  others,  to  consult  his  own 
inclinations  as  against  the  call  of  his  party  and  fellow- 
citizens,  and  hoping  that  I  may  be  of  use  to  you  in  your 
efforts  to  inaugurate  a  better  rule  in  municipal  affairs,  I 
accept  the  nomination  tendered  me.  I  believe  much  can 
be  done  to  relieve  our  citizens  from  their  present  load  of 
taxation,  and  that  a  more  rigid  scrutiny  of  all  public  ex- 
penditures will  result  in  a  great  saving  to  the  commu- 
nity. I  also  believe  that  some  extravagances  in  our  city 
government  may  be  corrected  without  injury  to  the  pub- 
lic service.  There  is,  or  there  should  be,  no  reason  why 
the  affairs  of  our  city  should  not  be  managed  with  the 
same  care,  the  same  economy,  as  private  interests.  And 
when  we  consider  that  public  officials  are  the  trustees  of 
the  people,  and  hold  their  places  and  exercise  their 
powers  for  the  benefit  of  the  people,  there  should  be  no 
higher  inducement  to  a  faithful  and  honest  discharge  of 
public  duty. 

" These  are  very  old  truths;  but  I  cannot  forbear  to 
speak  in  this  strain  to-day,  because  I  believe  the  time  has 


54  CLEVELAND   AS   A   LAWYER   AND   AS  MAYOR, 

come  when  the  people  loudly  demand  that  these  prin- 
ciples shall  be  sincerely,  :md  without  mental  reservation, 
adopted  as  a  rule  of  conduct,  and  I  am  assured  that  the 
result  of  the  campaign  upon  which  we  enter  to-day  will 
demonstrate  that  the  citizens  of  Buffalo  will  not  tolerate 
the  man  or  the  party  who  has  been  unfaithful  to  public 
trusts.  I  say  these  things  to  a  convention  of  Democrats, 
because  I  know  that  grand  old  party  is  honest,  and  such 
a  dictation  is  not  unwelcome  to  you.  Let  us  then  in 
all  sincerity  promise  the  people  an  improvement  in  our 
municipal  affairs;  and  if  the  opportunity  is  offered  to  us, 
as  it  surely  will  be,  let  us  faithfully  keep  that  promise. 
By  this  means,  and  by  this  means  alone,  can  our  success 
rest  upon  a  firm  foundation,  and  our  party  ascendency 
be  permanently  assured.  Our  opponents  will  wage  a 
bitter  and  determined  warfare ;  but  with  united  and 
hearty  effort  we  shall  achieve  a  victory  for  our  entire 
ticket.  And  at  this  day,  and  with  my  record  before  you, 
I  trust  it  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  pledge  to  you  my  most 
earnest  endeavors  to  bring  about  this  result;  and  if 
elected  to  the  position  for  which  you  have  nominated 
me,  I  shall  do  my  whole  duty  to  the  party ;  but  none 
the  less,  I  hope,  to  the  citizens  of  Buffalo." 

HE   SAVES   A   MILLION    DOLLARS    IN    SIX   MONTHS. 

He  was  elected  by  a  large  majority ;  and  he  entered 
office  on  January  1,   1882,  supported  by  people  of  all 


CLEVELAND   AS   A   LAWYER   AND   AS  MATOE.  55 

parties,  and  untrammelled  by  any  engagements.  In  his 
inaugural  address  he  set  forth  the  following  principles  : 

"  We  hold  the  money  of  the  people  in  our  hands,  to  be 
used  for  their  purposes  and  to  further  their  interests  as 
members  of  the  municipality,  and  it  is  quite  apparent 
that,  when  any  part  of  the  funds  which  the  tax-payers 
have  thus  intrusted  us  are  diverted  to  other  purposes,  or 
when,  by  design  or  neglect,  we  allow  a  greater  sum  to  be 
applied  to  any  municipal  purpose  than  is  necessary,  we 
have,  to  that  extent,  violated  our  duty.  There  surely  is 
no  difference  in  his  duties  and  obligations,  whether  a 
person  is  entrusted  with  the  money  of  one  man  or  many. 
And  yet  it  sometimes  appears  as  though  the  office- 
holder assumes  that  a  different  rule  of  fidelity  prevails 
between  him  and  the  tax-payers  than  that  which  should 
regulate  his  conduct  when,  as  an  individual,  he  holds  the 
money  of  his  neighbor."  ^ 

He  restored  order  in  all  branches  of  the  municipal 
service,  which  were  in  dire  confusion,  and  in  two  mat- 
ters  that  came  up  during  the  first  six  months  of  his  ad- 
ministration he  saved  the  city  a  million  dollars. 

HIS   BEGINNING   AS   A   VETOEE. 

He  used  the  veto  power  unsparingly,  and  the  follow- 
ing rebuke  of  public  plunderers,  taken  from  his  veto  of 
a  street-cleaning  contract,  indicates  his  resolute  purpose 
to  effect  a  thorough  municipal  reform : 


56          CLEVELAND  AS  A    LAWYER   AND   AS   MAYOR. 

"This  is  a  time  for  plain  speech,  and  my  objection  to 
your  action  shall  be  plainly  stated.  I  regard  it  as  the 
culmination  of  a  most  barefaced,  impudent,  and  shame- 
less scheme  to  betray  the  interests  of  the  people  and 
to  worse  than  squander  the  public  money.  We  are  fast 
gaining  positions  in  the  grades  of  public  stewardship. 
There  is  no  middle  ground.  Those  who  are  not  for  the 
people,  either  in  or  out  of  your  honorable  body,  are 
against  them  and  should  be  treated  accordingly." 

A   REMARKABLE    DECLARATION    AS    TO    ClTI/.r.NSIlir. 

Irish-American  voters  have  been  much  affected  by  a 
speech  made  by  Mayor  Cleveland  on  April  9,  1882,  in 
St.  James's  Hall,  Buffalo.  Much  dissatisfaction  had  bci-n 
excited  by  James  Russell  Lowell's  course  concerning 
Americans  imprisoned  in  Ireland,  and  a  public  meeting 
had  been  called  to  express  indignation.  On  taking  the 
chair  to  preside,  Mayor  Cleveland  delivered  the  follow- 
ing as  to  the  duties  of  the  United  States  Government  to 
its  citizens  abroad : 

"FELLOW-CITIZENS:  This  is  the  formal  mode  of  ad- 
dress on  occasions  of  this  kind,  but  I  think  we  seldom 
realize  fully  its  meaning  or  how  valuable  a  thing  it  is  to  be 
a  citizen.  From  the  earliest  civilization,  to  be  a  citizen  has 
been  to  be  a  free  man,  endowed  with  certain  privileges 
and  advantages,  and  entitled  to  the  full  protection  of  the 
state.  The  defence  and  protection  of  personal  rights  of 


CLEVELAND  AS  A  LAWYER  AND   AS  MAYOR.          57 

its  citizens  has  always  been  the  paramount  and  most  im- 
portant duty  of  a  free,  enlightened  government.  And 
perhaps  no  government  has  this  sacred  trust  more  in  its 
keeping  than  this,  the  best  and  freest  of  them  all ;  for 
here  the  people  who  are  to  be  protected  are  the  source  of 
those  powers  which  they  delegate  upon  the  express  com- 
pact that  the  citizen  shall  be  protected.  For  this  pur- 
pose we  choose  those  who  for  the  time  being  shall  man- 
age the  machinery  which  we  have  set  up  for  our  defence 
and  safety. 

"  And  this  protection  adheres  to  us  in  all  lands  and 
places  as  an  incident  of  citizenship.  Let  but  the  weight 
of  a  sacrilegious  hand  be  put  upon  this  sacred  thing  and 
a  great,  strong  government  springs  to  its  feet  to  avenge 
the  wrong.  Tims  it  is  that  the  native-born  American 
citizen  enjoys  his  birthrights.  But  when,  in  the  west- 
ward inarch  of  empire,  this  nation  was  founded  and  took 
root,  we  beckoned  to  the  Old  World  and  invited  hither 
its  immigration,  and  provided  a  mode  by  which  those 
who  sought  a  home  among  us  might  become  our  fellow- 
citizens.  They  came  .by  thousands  and  hundreds  of 
thousands ;  they  came  and 

"  'Hewed  the  dark  old  woods  away, 
And  gave  the  virgin  fields  to  day;' 

they  came  with  strong  sinews  and  brawny  arms  to  aid  in 

the  growth  and  progress  of  a  new  country ;  they  came 
3* 


58          CLEVELAND  AS  A   LAWYER   AND   AS   MAYOR. 

and  upon  our  altars  laid  their  fealty  and  submission ; 
they  came  to  our  temples  of  justice,  and  under  the  so- 
lemnity of  an  oath  renounced  all  allegiance  to  every  other 
state,  potentate,  and  sovereignty,  and  surrendered  to  us 
all  the  duty  pertaining  to  such  allegiance.  "We  have  ac- 
cepted their  fealty  and  invited  them  to  surrender  the 
protection  of  their  native  land. 

"  And  what  should  be  given  them  in  return  ?  Mani- 
festly, good  faith  and  every  dictate  of  honor  demand 
that  we  give  them  the  same  liberty  and  protection  here 
and  elsewhere  which  we  vouchsafe  to  our  native-born 
citizens.  And  that  this  has  been  accorded  to  them  is  the 
crowning  glory  of  American  institutions.  It  needed  not 
the  statute  which  is  now  the  law  of  the  land,  declaring 
that  '  all  naturalized  citizens  while  in  foreign  lands  are 
entitled  to  and  shall  receive  from  this  government  the 
same  protection  of  person  and  property  which  is  accorded 
to  native-born  citizens,'  to  voice  the  policy  of  our  na- 
tion. 

"In  all  lands  where  the  semblance  of  liberty  is  pre- 
served, the  right  of  a  person  arrested  to  a  speedy  accusa- 
tion and  trial  is,  or  ought  to  be,  a  fundamental  law,  as  it 
is  a  rule  of  civilization.  At  any  rate,  we  hold  it  to  be 
so,  and  this  is  one  of  the  rights  which  we  undertake  to 
guarantee  to  any  native-born  or  naturalized  citizen  of 
ours,  whether  he  be  imprisoned  by  order  of  the  Czar  of 
Russia  or  under  the  pretext  of  a  law  administered  for  the 


CLEVELAND    AS  A   LAWYER  AND   AS   MAYOR.  59 

benefit  of  the  landed  aristocracy  of  England.  We  do 
not  claim  to  make  laws  for  other  countries,  but  we  do 
insist  that  whatsoever  those  laws  may  be,  they  shall,  in 
the  interests  of  human  freedom  and  the  rights  of  man- 
kind so  far  as  they  involve  the  liberty  of  our  citizens,  be 
speedily  administered.  We  have  a  right  to  say  and  do 
say  that  mere  suspicion  without  examination  on  trial  is 
not  sufficient  to  justify  the  long  imprisonment  of  a  citi- 
zen of  America.  Other  nations  may  permit  their  citi- 
zens to  be  thus  imprisoned.  Ours  will  not.  And  this  in 
effect  has  been  solemnly  declared  by  statute. 

"We  have  met  here  to-night  to  consider  this  subject 
and  inquire  into  the  cause  and  the  reasons  and  the  justice 
of  the  imprisonment  of  certain  of  our  fellow-citizens  now 
held  in  British  prisons  without  the  semblance  of  a  trial 
or  legal  examination.  Our  law  declares  that  the  govern- 
ment shall  act  in  such  cases.  But  the  people  are  the 
creators  of  the  government.  The  undaunted  apostle  of 
the  Christian  religion,  imprisoned  and  persecuted,  appeal- 
ing centuries  ago  to  the  Roman  law  and  the  rights  of 
Roman  citizenship,  boldly  demanded,  '  Is  it  lawful  for 
you  to  scourge  a  man  that  is  a  Roman  and  uncondernned  ? ' 
So,  too,  might  we  ask,  appealing  to  the  law  of  our  land 
and  the  laws  of  civilization,  '  Is  it  lawful  that  these,  our 
fellows,  be  imprisoned,  who  are  American  citizens  and 
uncondemned  I '  I  deem  it  an  honor  to  be  called  upon 


60          CLEVELAND   AS   A   LAWYER   AND   AS   MAYOR. 

to  preside  at  such  a  meeting,  and  I  thank  you  for  it. 
What  is  your  further  pleasure  ? " 

HIS  COURSE  AS  MAYOR  GIVES  HEM  A  NATIONAL  FAME. 

Grover  Cleveland's  action  as  mayor  of  Buffalo  com- 
manded attention  outside  of  New  York  State,  and  in  the 
State  it  marked  him  as  almost  an  ideal  executive  officer, 
the  very  man  needed  in  the  governor's  chair  at  Albany, 
where  a  firm  hand  at  the  helm  was  demanded.  Says  an 
observer  of  discernment :  "  His  work  was  no  less  intelli- 
gent and  sagacious  than  it  was  honest  and  courageous." 


CHAPTER  III. 


CLEVELAND  AS  GOVERNOR  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Charles  A.  Dana,  of  the  New  York  Sun,  on  the  Qualities  exhibited 
by  Grover  Cleveland  as  Mayor  of  Buffalo. — "A  Man  Worthy  of  the 
Highest  Public  Confidence." — Cleveland's  Nomination  for  Governor 
and  his  Letter  of  Acceptance. — His  Majority  the  Greatest  in  the 
History  of  the  "Empire  State." — His  Views  set  forth  at  length. — 
Mr.  Dana  on  Governor  Cleveland's  Inaugural. — Extracts  from  that 
Important  Document. — Taxation. — Canals. — Education. — Banks. — 
State-Prisons. — The  Insane. — Port  Abuses. — Civil  Service. — Munici- 
pal Government. — Primary  Elections. — Special  Legislation. — Con- 
clusion. 

Charles  A.  Dana,  the  distinguished  editor  of  the 
New  York  Sun,  said,  soon  after  the  nomination  of  the 
State  Democratic  ticket  of  New  York  in  1882  :  "  Grover 
Cleveland,  now  Mayor  of  Buffalo  and  the  Democratic  can- 
didate for  Governor  of  New  York,  is  a  man  worthy  of  the 
highest  public  confidence.  No  one  can  study  the  record 
of  his  career  since  he  has  held  ofiice  in  Buffalo  without 
being  convinced  that  he  possesses  those  highest  qualities 
of  a  public  man,  sound  principles  of  administrative  duty, 


62  CLEVELAND   AS   GOVERNOR   OF   NEW   YORK. 

luminous  intelligence,  and  courage  to  do  what  is  right  no 
matter  who  may  be  pleased  or  displeased  thereby." 

• 

This  emphatic  declaration  sufficiently  explains  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  name  of  Cleveland  in  connection  with 
the  highest  office  of  the  greatest  State  of  the  Union  be- 
fore he  had%finished  his  first  year  in  the  highest  office  of 
his  own  city.  That  the  declaration  expressed  the  senti- 
ment of  the  people  is  evinced  by  the  famous  majority 
which  placed  Grover  Cleveland  in  the  Executive  Mansion 
at  Albany.  Although  Judge  Folger,  President  Arthur's 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  a  man  of  high  moral 
worth  and  great  intellectual  power,  was  the  Republican 
candidate,  Cleveland's  majority  was  192,854,  and  has  no 
parallel  in  all  the  history  of  the  "  Empire  State." 

A   DECLARATION   OF    PRINCIPLES. 

Cleveland's  letter  accepting  the  nomination  for  Gov- 
ernor set  forth  his  public  views  so  distinctly  that  its  pe- 
rusal is  invaluable  to  those  who  would  study  the  develop- 
ment of  his  public  career.  It  is  as  follows  : 

"  BUFFALO,  October  7th,  1882. 
"  Hon.  TJwmas  C.  E.  Ecdesine,  Chairman,  etc. 

"DEAR  SIR:  I  beg  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your 
letter  informing  me  of  my  nomination  for  Governor  by 
the  Democratic  State  Convention  lately  held  at  the  city 
of  Syracuse.  I  accept  the  nomination  thus  tendered  to 


CLEVELAND  AS  GOVERNOR  OF  NEW  YORK.     63 

me,  and  trust  that,  while  I  am  gratefully  sensible  of  the 
honor  conferred,  I  am  also  properly  impressed  with  the 
responsibilities  which  it  invites. 

"  The  platform  of  principles  adopted  by  the  Conven- 
tion meets  with  my  hearty  approval.  The  doctrines 
therein  enunciated  are  so  distinctly  and  explicitly  stated 
that  their  amplification  seems  scarcely  necessary.  If 
elected  to  the  office  for  which  I  have  been  nominated,  I 
shall  endeavor  to  impiess  them  upon  my  Administration, 
and  make  them  the  policy  of  the  State. 

"Our  citizens,  for  the  most  part,  attach  themselves  to 
one  or  the  other  of  the  great  political  parties  ;  and,  under 
ordinary  circumstances,  they  support  the  nominees  of  the 
party  to  which  they  profess  fealty.  It  is  quite  apparent 
that  under  such  circumstances  the  primary  election  or 
caucus  should  be  surrounded  by  such  safeguards  as  will 
secure  absolutely  free  and  uncontrolled  action.  Here  the 
people  themselves  are  supposed  to  speak  ;  here  they  put 
their  own  hands  to  the  machinery  of  government,  and  in 
this  place  should  be  found  the  manifestation  of  the  popu- 
lar will.  When  by  fraud,  intimidation,  or  any  other 
questionable  practice  the  voice  of  the  people  is  here 
smothered,  a  direct  blow  is  aimed  at  a  most  precious 
right,  and  one  which  the  law  should  be  swift  to  protect. 
If  the  primary  election  is  uncontaminated  and  fairly  con- 
ducted, those  there  chosen  to  represent  the  people  will 
go  forth  with  the  impress  of  the  people's  will  upon  them, 


64     CLEVELAND  AS  GOVERNOR  OP  NEW  YORK. 

and  the  benefits  and  purposes  of  a  truly  representative 
government  will  be  attained. 

"Public  officers  are  the  servants  and  agents  of  the 
people  to  execute  laws  which  the  people  have  made,  and 
within  the  limits  of  a  constitution  which  they  have  es- 
tablished. Hence  the  interference  of  officials  of  any 
degree,  and  whether  State  or  Federal,  for  the  purpose  of 
thwarting  or  controlling  the  popular  wish,  should  not  be 
tolerated. 

"Subordinates  in  public  places  should  be  selected  and 
retained  for  their  efficiency,  and  not*because  they  may  be 
used  to  accomplish  partisan  ends.  The  people  have  a 
right  to  demand  here,  as  in  cases  of  private  employment, 
that  their  money  be  paid  to  those  who  will  render  the 
best  service  in  return,  and  that  the  appointment  to  and 
tenure  of  such  places  should  depend  upon  ability  and 
merit.  If  the  clerks  and  assistants  in  public  departments 
were  paid  the  same  compensation  and  required  to  do  the 
same  amount  of  work  as  those  employed  in  prudently 
conducted  private  establishments,  the  anxiety  to  hold 
these  public  places  would  be  much  diminished,  and,  it 
seems  to  me,  the  cause  of  civil-service  reform  materially 
aided. 

"  The  system  of  levying  assessments  for  partisan  pur- 
poses on  those  holding  office  or  place  cannot  be  too 
strongly  condemned.  Through  the  thin  disguise  of  vol- 
untary contributions  this  is  seen  to  be  naked  extortion, 


CLEVELAND  AS  GOVERNOR  OF  NEW  YORK.      DO 

reducing  the  compensation  winch  should  be  honestly 
earned,  and  swelling  a  fund  used  to  debauch  the  people 
and  defeat  the  popular  will. 

"  I  am  unalterably  opposed  to  the  interference  by  the 
Legislature  with  the  government  of  municipalities.  I 
believe  in  the  intelligence  of  the  people  when  left  to  an 
honest  freedom  in  their  choice,  and  that  when  the  citi- 
zens of  any  section  of  the  State  have  determined  upon 
the  details  of  a  local  government  they  should  be  left  in 
the  undisturbed  enjoyment  of  the  same.  The  doctrine 
of  home  rule,  as  I  understand  it,  lies  at  the  foundation  of 
republican  institutions  and  cannot  be  too  strongly  insisted 
upon. 

"Corporations  are  created  by  the  law  for  certain 
defined  purposes,  and  are  restricted  in  their  operations  by 
specific  limitations.  Acting  within  their  legitimate  sphere 
they  should  be  protected  ;  but  when  by  combination 
or  by  the  exercise  of  unwarranted  power  they  oppress  the 
people,  the  same  authority  which  created  should  restrain 
them  and  protect  the  rights  of  the  citizens.  The  law 
lately  passed  for  the  purpose  of  adjusting  the  relations 
between  the  people  and  corporations  should  be  executed 
in  good  faith,  with  a7i  honest  design  to  effect  its  objects 
and  with  a  due  regard  for  the  interests  involved. 
i  "  The  laboring  classes  constitute  the  main  part  of  our 
population.  They  should  be  protected  in  their  efforts 
peaceably  to  assert  their  rights  when  endangered  by  ag- 


66  CLEVELAND   AS   GOVERNOR   OF   NEW    YORK. 

gregated  capital,  and  all  statutes  on  this  subject  should 
recognize  the  care  of  the  State  for  honest  toil  and  be 
framed  with  a  view  of  improving  the  condition  of  the 
workingman. 

"  We  have  so  lately  had  a  demonstration  of  the  value 
of  our  citizen  soldiery  in  time  of  peril,  that  it  seems  to 
me  no  argument  is  necessary  to  prove  that  it  should  be 
maintained  in  a  state  of  efficiency,  so  that  its  usefulness 
shall  not  be  impaired. 

"  Certain  amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  our  State, 
involving  the  management  of  our  canals,  are  to  be  passed 
upon  at  the  coming  election.  This  subject  affects  di- 
verse interests,  and  of  course  gives  rise  to  opposite  opin- 
ions. It  is  in  the  hands  of  the  sovereign  people  for  final 
settlement ;  and  as  the  question  is  thus  removed  from 
State  legislation,  any  statement  of  my  opinion  in  regard 
to  it  at  this  time  would,  I  think,  be  out  of  place.  I  am 
confident  that  the  people  will  intelligently  examine  the 
merits  of  the  subject  and  determine  where  the  prepon- 
derance of  interest  lies. 

"  The  expenditure  of  money  to  influence  the  action  of 
the  people  at  the  polls,  or  to  secure  legislation,  is  calcu- 
lated to  excite  the  gravest  concern.  When  this  pernicious 
agency  is  successfully  employed  a  representative  form  of 
government  becomes  a  sham,  and  laws  passed  under  its 
baleful  influences  cease  to  protect,  but  are  made  the 
means  by  which  the  rights  of  the  people  are  sacrificed 


CLEVELAND   AS   GOVERNOR   OF  NEW    YORK.  67 

and  the  public  treasury  despoiled.  It  is  useless  and  fool- 
ish to  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  this  evil  exists  among 
us;  and  the  party  which  leads  in  an  honest  effort  to 
return  to  better  and  purer  methods  will  receive  the  con- 
fidence of  our  citizens  and  secure  their  support.  It  is 
wilful  blindness  not  to  see  that  the  people  care  but  little 
for  party  obligations  when  they  are  invoked  to  counte- 
nance and  sustain  fraudulent  and  corrupt  practices.  And 
it  is  well  for  our  country  and  for  the  purification  of  poli- 
tics that  the  people,  at  times  fully  roused  to  danger,  re- 
mind their  leaders  that  party  methods  should  be  some- 
thing more  than  a  means  used  to  answer  the  purposes  of 
those  who  profit  by  political  occupation. 

"  The  importance  of  wise  statesmanship  in  the  man- 
agement of  public  affairs  cannot,  I  think,  be  overesti- 
mated. I  am  convinced,  however,  that  the  perplexities 
and  the  mystery  often  surrounding  the  administration  of 
State  concerns  grow,  in  a  great  measure,  out  of  an  at- 
tempt to  serve  partisan  ends  rather  than  the  welfare  of 
the  citizen. 

"  We  may,  I  think,  reduce  to  quite  simple  elements 
the  duty  which  the  public  servants  owe,  by  constantly 
bearing  in  mind  that  they  are  pat  in  place  to  protect  the 
rights  of  the  people,  to  answer  their  needs  as  they  arise, 
and  to  expend  for  their  benefit  the  money  drawn  from 
them  by  taxation. 

"  I  am  profoundly  conscious  that  the  management  of 


68     CLEVELAND  AS  GOVERNOR  OF  NEW  YORK. 

the  diverse  interests  of   a  great   State   is  not   an   easy 
matter ;  but  I  believe,  if  undertaken  in  the  proper  spirit, 
all  its  real  difficulties  will  yield  to  watchfulness  and  care. 
"  Yours  respectfully, 

"GROVEB  CLEVELAND." 

MR.  DANA  AND  CLEVELAND'S  INAUGURAL. 

Mr.  Dana's  admiration  for  Governor  Cleveland's  in- 
augural was  unbounded,  and  after  emphasizing  extracts 
from  it  he  said  editorially,  in  the  Sun: 

"  We  wish  that  the  utterances  we  have  now  quoted 
might  be  read  and  pondered  by  every  citizen  of  the 
State.  No  matter  what  political  faith  a  man  may  have 
been  educated  in,  no  matter  by  what  party  name  he  may 
now  prefer  to  be  called,  no  one  can  consider  snch  princi- 
ples and  sentiments  as  these  declared  by  Mr.  Cleveland 
without  feeling  that  such  a  public  officer  is  worthy  of  the 
confidence  and  support  of  the  whole  people,  and  that  the 
interests  of  the  Empire  State  will  be  entirely  safe  in  his 
hands." 

The  foregoing  expression  of  vigorous  approbation  will 
whet  the  appetite  of  the  reader  for  Governor  Cleveland's 
inaugural  message,  the  presentation  of  parts  of  which  in 
this  place  will  afford  an  opportunity  to  study  its  author's 
first  great  state-paper. 


GOV.  CLEVELAND'S  UNOSTENTATIOUS  ARRIVAL  AT  THE  STATE 
CAPITAL,  ALBANY,  PREVIOUS  TO  HIS  INAUGURATION. 


CLEVELAND  AS  GOVERNOR  OF  NEW  YORK.      71 

Governor  Cleveland  was  unrecognized  when  he 
reached  the  Executive  Mansion.  The  moment  the  in- 
augural ceremony  was  over  he  ordered  the  doors  thrown 
open  and  went  immediately  to  work. 

GOVERNOR  CLEVELAND'S  INAUGUBAL. 

"STATE  OF  NEW  YORK,  EXECUTIVE  CHAMBER, 
ALBANY,  January  2d,  1883. 

" To  the  Legislature: 

"In  obedience  to  the  provision  of  the  constitution 
which  directs  that  the  Governor  shall  communicate  to 
the  Legislature,  at  every  session,  the  condition  of  the 
State,  and  recommend  such  matters  to  them  as  lie  shall 
judge  expedient,  I  transmit  this  my  first  annual  message, 
with  the  intimation  that  a  newly  elected  Executive  can 
hardly  be  prepared  to  present  a  complete  exhibit  of  State 
affairs  or  to  submit  in  detail  a  great  variety  of  recom- 
mendations for  the  action  of  the  Legislature. 

TAXATION. 

"  The  imperfection  of  our  laws  touching  the  matter  of 
taxation,  or  the  faulty  execution  of  existing  statutes  on 
the  subject,  is  glaringly  apparent. 

"  The  power  of  the  State  to  exact  from  the  citizen  a 
part  of  his  earnings  and  income  for  the  support  of  the 
Government  it  is  obvious  should  be  exercised  with  abso- 


72  CLEVELAND    AS   GOVERNOR   OF    NEW   YORK. 

lute  fairness  and  justice.  "When  it  is  not  so  exercised  the 
people  are  oppressed.  This  furnishes  the  highest  and 
the  hest  reason  why  laws  should  be  enacted  and  executed 
which  will  subject  all  property,  as  all  alike  need  the  pro- 
tection of  the  State,  to  an  equal  share  in  the  burdens  of 
taxation,  by  means  of  which  the  Government  is  main- 
tained. And  yet  it  is  notoriously  true  that  personal 
property,  not  less  remunerative  than  land  and  real  estate, 
escapes  to  a  very  great  extent  the  payment  of  its  fair  pro- 
portion of  the  expense  incident  to  its  protection  and  pre- 
servation under  the  law.  The  people  should  always  be 
able  to  recognize,  with  the  pride  and  satisfaction  which 
are  the  strength  of  our  institutions,  in  the  conduct  of  the 
State  the  source  of  undiscriminating  justice  which  can 
give  no  pretext  for  discontent. 

CANALS. 

"Since,  by  the  adoption  of  the  constitutional  amend- 
ment, the  cost  of  maintaining  the  canals  is  to  be  met  by 
a  tax  upon  all  property  of  the  State,  it  is  our  plain  duty 
to  deal  with  this  subject  with  strict  economy.  The  safe- 
guards heretofore  existing  in  the  constitution,  which 
protected  the  tax-payers  from  unlimited  expense  in  the 
management  and  repair  of  the  canals,  having  been  relin- 
quished by  the  people,  this  act  is  by  no  means  to  be  re- 
'garded  as  an  indication  that  they  have  forgotten  the  time 
when  the  extravagance  and  fraud  connected  with  the 


CLEVELAND  AS  GOVERNOR  OF  NEW  YORK.     73 

canals  were  a  scandal  and  reproach  to  the  State.  They 
have,  in  their  devotion  to  their  great  waterways,  and  in 
the  fear  that  the  limitations  of  the  constitution  might  im- 
pair their  usefulness,  surrendered  the  protection  thus  af- 
forded, together  with  the  revenue  derived  from  tolls,  and 
have  entrusted  the  whole  matter  to  their  chosen  represen- 
tatives. In  the  execution  of  the  trust  committed  to  us 
under  such  circumstances,  all  propositions  and  schemes  for 
the  enlargement  of  the  canals  or  the  expenditure  of  large 
sums  of  money  in  their  alteration  should,  in  my  opinion,  be 
stubbornly  opposed,  at  least  until  the  effect  pf  the  aboli- 
tion of  tolls  is  fully  apparent.  At  the  present  time 
what  the  people  want,  and  what  they  will  demand,  is  the 
management  of  the  canals  as  they  *now  exist  in  such 
manner  that  their  utmost  capacity  shall  be  made  available 
at  the  lowest  possible  cost.  .  .  . 


PUBLIC    EDUCATION. 

"  The  success  of  our  common-school  system  is  so  closely 
connected  with  the  welfare  of  the  State  that  its  satisfac- 
tory condition  should  be  a  subject  of  congratulation  to 
every  citizen.  The  number  of  children  attending  public 
schools  during  the  last  fiscal  year  was  19,807  in  excess  of 
the  number  reported  the  year  previous,  while  my  pre- 
decessor in  his  last  annual  message  called  attention  wirh 
regret  to  a  decrease  in  attendance  for  the  year  then  closed. 


74  CLEVELAND   AS    GOVERNOR   OF   NEW   YORK. 


BANKS. 

"  State  supervision  of  banks  is  more  than  useless  un- 
less it  is  thorough  and  effective.  Under  the  law  as  it 
now  stands,  the  Superintendent  of  the  Banking  Depart- 
ment must  cause  an  examination  to  be  made  of  these  in- 
stitutions only  when,  in  his  opinion,  there  is  good  reason 
to  suspect  an  unsound  condition  or  false  reports.  It 
would  seem  that  the  solvency  of  the  banks  and  the  pro- 
tection of  depositors  would  be  better  assured  if  one  or 
more  examinations  in  each  year  were  made  compulsory 
on  the  department. 
*- 

INSTJRANCE. 

"  I  am  informed  that  the  expenses  of  maintaining  this 
department  for  the  year  ending  September  30,  1882, 
were  at  least  a  hundred  thousand  dollars;  while  remit 
investigations  tend  to  convince  the  ordinary  mind  that  this 
department,  and  the  laws  in  relation  to  the  subject  of 
insurance,  do  not  furnish  the  protection  to  the  people 
which  they  ought.  I  suggest  that  steps  be  taken  to  make 
this  department  more  useful  and  less  expensive,  and  that 
the  law  touching  the  entire  question  of  insurance  be  re- 
duced to  a  plain  and  simple  enactment  which  shall  be  a 
safeguard  against  the  abuses  to  which  this  important 
interest  is  now  exposed. 


CLEVELAND   AS   GOVERNOR   OF   NEW   YORK.  75 


NATIONAL    GUARD. 

"On  the  first  day  of  July  last  a  camp  of  instruc- 
tion was  established  near  Peekskill,  which  was  maintained 
until  the  fourth  day  of  August.  Six  regiments  were 
consecutively  ordered  to  this  camp,  remaining  there  from 
five  to  eight  days  each.  If,  as  the  result  of  this  inaugural 
encampment  seems  to  indicate,  the  usefulness  of  the 
National  Guard  can  he  thereby  promoted  with  a  reason- 
able expenditure  of  money,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  a 
sufficient  amount  should  be  appropriated  annually  to  per- 
mit at  least  a  part  of  the  force  to  receive  the  advantages 
of  this  new  feature  of  military  instruction. 

"  With  the  reduction  of  the  number  of  men  enrolled 
the  elficiency  and  discipline  of  the  force  becomes  a 
matter  of  the  first  importance  ;  and  I  trust  that  all  legis- 
lation on  the  subject,  as  well  as  the  administration  of  the 
military  affairs  of  the  State,  will  be  in  that  direction. 

STATE-PRISONS. 

"If  these  penal  institutions  are  self-sustaining,  without 
injury  or  embarrassment  to  honest  labor,  it  is  a  matter 
for  congratulation ;  but  it  is,  at  least,  very  questionable 
whether  the  State  should  go  further  and  seek  to  realize  a 
profit  from  its  convict  labor.  In  my  judgment  it  should 
not,  especially  if  the  danger  of  competition  between 


76 


convicts  and  those  who  honestly  toil  is  thereby  increased, 
and  the  overcrowding  of  any  of  the  prisons,  with  its 
attendant  evils,  is  the  result. 


CHARITABLE    INSTITUTIONS, 

"The  usefulness  of  such  institutions  depends  very 
much  on  the  confidence  which  the  public  have  in  their 
proper  conduct,  and  it  is  abundantly  demonstrated  that 
the  people  are  ready  to  believe,  sometimes  on  very  slight 
grounds,  the  gravest  charges  of  mismanagement  and 
inhuman  treatment  with  reference  to  their  superin- 
tendence. It  is  equally  certain  that  if  abuses  in  the  care 
of  the  insane  exist,  tliere  should  be  the  least  possible 
opportunity  for  their  continuance  without  exposure. 
Frequent  visitations  and  the  most  thorough  examination 
should  be  made,  either  by  local  boards  or  by  properly 
constituted  State  authorities,  which  the  people  would  be 
sure  were  in  nowise  committed,  except  to  the  faithful 
discharge  of  their  duties.  By  this  means  these  institu- 
tions would  be  protected  from  unjust  charges  and  suspi- 
cion, and  the  confidence  of  our  citizens  in  their  manage- 
ment secured. 

"  A  dispute  has  arisen  between  the  Board  of  Charities 
and  the  managers  of  some  of  the  insane  asylums  in  regard 
to  their  respective  rights  and  duties,  which  should  be 
settled  by  plain  statutory  provisions. 


CLEVELAND   AS   GOVERNOR   OF   NEW  YORK.  77 

I 
QUARANTINE   AND    HEALTH    OFFICER. 

"  From  a  report  of  a  special  committee  appointed  by 
the  Senate  in  1881  it  appears  that  while  the  emoluments 
of  the  Health  Officer  of  the  port  of  New  York  were  very 
difficult  of  exact  ascertainment,  the  committee  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  net  income  of  that  officer  did  not 
average  less  than  forty  thousand  dollars  per  annum,  and 
might,  in  favorable  years,  reach  a  sum  upwards  of 
sixty  thousand  dollars.  No  one  can  read  this  report 
without  being  convinced  that  this  estimate  is  a  very 
moderate  one,  and  represents  a  sum  of  money  derived 
from  the  commerce  of  our  principal  port  in  startling  dis- 
proportion to  services  rendered,  and  greater  than  any 
man  ought  to  receive  for  official  service. 

"  The  great  State  of  New  York  should  no  longer  rest 
under  the  accusation  that  it  knowingly  permits  officials 
of  its  own  creation  to  burden  the  commerce  entering  its 
port  by  the  exaction  of  charges  which  the  highest  tri- 
bunal in  the  land  has  determined  to  be  illegal. 

"  It  is  worthy  of  the  consideration  of  the  Legislature 
whether  the  duties  attached  to  these  offices  could  not 
properly  be  performed  under  the  auspices  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Docks  in  the  city  of  New  York.  If,  however, 
it  is  determined  that  the  office  of  harbor-master  is  neces- 
sary, some  way  should  be  devised  by  which  he  can  be 
legally  compensated  for  his  services. 


78  CLEVELAND   AS   GOVERNOR   OF   NEW   YORK. 

"The  subject  of  port- wardens  and  the  system  of 
pilotage  connected  with  the  port  of  New  York  are  also 
coin  mended  to  the  consideration  of  the  Legislature,  as 
matters  which  need  further  regulation  by  well-digested 
laws. 

"  A  reference  is  hardly  necessary  to  the  fact  that  if  we 
are  to  maintain  the  supremacy  of  our  port  against  a  con- 
stantly increasing  competition  there  should  be  no  un- 
favorable contrast  in  regard  to  fees  and  charges  "which 
are  indirectly  a  tax  on  its  commerce. 

REFORM    IN    CIVIL    SERVICE. 

"  It  is  submitted  that  the  appointment  of  subordinates 
in  the  several  State  departments,  and  their  tenure  of 
office  or  employment,  should  be  based  upon  fitness  and 
efficienc}',  and  that  this  principle  should  be  embodied  in 
legislative  enactment,  to  the  end  that  the  policy  of  the 
State  may  conform  to  the  reasonable  public  demand  on 
that  subject. 

MUNICIPAL   GOVERNMENT. 

"The  formation  and  administration  of  the  govern- 
ment of  cities  are  subjects  of  much  public  interest,  and 
of  great  importance  to  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
State.  The  formation  of  such  governments  is  properly 
matter  for  most  careful  legislation. 

•'  They  should  be  so  organized  as  to  be  simple  in  their 


CLEVELAND   AS   GOVERNOR  OF  NEW   YORK.  79 

details  and  to  cast  upon  the  people  affected  thereby  the 
full  responsibility  of  their  administration.  The  different 
departments  should  be  in  such  accord  as  in  their  opera- 
tion to  lead  toward  the  same  results.  Divided  counsels 
and  divided  responsibility  to  the  people  on  the  part  of 
municipal  officers,  it  is  believed,  give  rise  to  much  that 
is  objectionable  in  the  government  of  cities.  If,  to 
remedy  this  evil,  the  chief  executive  should  be  made 
answerable  to  the  people  for  the  proper  conduct  of  the 
city's  affairs,  it  is  quite  clear  that  his  power  in  the  selec- 
tion of  those  who  manage  its  different  departments 
should  be  greatly  enlarged. 

PRIMARY   ELECTIONS. 

"  The  protection  of  the  people  in  their  primaries  will, 
it  is  hoped,  be  secured  by  the  early  passage  of  a  law  for 
that  purpose,  which  will  rid  the  present  system  of  the 
evils  which  surround  it,  tending  to  defraud  the  people  of 
rights  closely  connected  with  their  privileges  as  citizens. 

SPECIAL    LEGISLATION. 

"  It  is  confidently  expected  that  those  who  represent 
the  people  in  the  present  Legislature  will  address  them- 
selves to  the  enactment  of  such  laws  as  are  for  the  bene- 
fit of  all  the  citizens  of  the  State,  to  the  exclusion  of 
special  legislation  and  interference  with  affairs  which 
should  be  managed  by  the  localities  to  which  they  pertain. 


80     CLEVELAND  AS  GOVERNOR  OF  NEW  YORK. 

"It  is  not  only  the  right  of  the  people  to  administer 
their  local  government,  but  it  should  be  made  their  duty 
to  do  so.  Any  departure  from  this  doctrine  is  an  aban- 
donment of  the  principles  upon  which  our  institutions  are 
founded,  and  a  concession  of  the  iniirmity  and  partial 
failure  of  the  theory  of  a  representative  form  of  govern- 
ment. 

"If  the  aid  of  the  Legislature  is  invoked  to  further 
projects  which  should  be  subject  to  local  control  and 
management,  suspicion  should  be  at  once  aroused  and 
the  interference  sought  should  be  promptly  and  sternly 
refused. 

"  Let  us  enter  upon  the  discharge  of  our  duties  fully 
appreciating  our  relations  to  the  people,  and  determined 
to  serve  them  faithfully  and  well.  This  involves  a  jeal- 
ous watch  of  the  public  funds  and  a  refusal  to  sanction 
their  appropriation  except  for  public  needs.  To  this  end 
all  unnecessary  offices  should  be  abolished  and  all  em- 
ployment of  doubtful  benefit  discontinued.  If  to  this 
we  add  the  enactment  of  such  wise  and  well-considered 
laws  as  will  meet  the  varied  wants  of  our  fellow-citi/.ens 
and  increase  their  prosperity,  we  shall  merit  and  receive 
the  approval  of  those  whose  representatives  we  are,  and 
with  the  consciousness  of  duty  well  performed  shall 
leave  our  impress  for  good  on  the  legislation  of  the 
State. 

"  GKOVEE  CLEVELAND." 


CHAPTER  IV. 


CLEVELAND'S  VETOES. 

"His  Veto  of  the  Street-Cleaning  Job  is  regarded  as  the  Real 
Beginning  of  his  Public  Career." — A  Prominent  Resident  of  Buffalo 
gives  the  Opinion. — Cleveland's  Use  of  the  Veto  Power  as  Governor. 
— A  Famous  Veto  two  months  after  he  entered  the  Executive  Man- 
sion at  Albany. — The  Five-Cent-Fare  Bill. — Its  History  and  its  De- 
fects.— The  Governor's  Words  in  Vetoing  it. — The  Courage  of  the 
Veto  wins  the  Admiration  of  President  White  of  Cornell. —  The 
Conductors  and  Drivers'  Bill. — "Not  in  the  Interest  of  Working- 
men." — A  Legislator's  Trick  makes  a  Veto  Necessary. — The  Me- 
chanics' Lien  Bill. — Cleveland's  Vetoes  and  the  Veterans. — A  Veto 
which  Saved  the  Savings  Banks. 

Reference  has  elsewhere  been  made  to  Grover  Cleve- 
land's beginning  of  the  use  of  the  veto  power  while 
Major  of  Buffalo,  and  a  prominent  inhabitant  of  that 
city  said,  soon  after  the  nomination  at  Chicago : 

"  Here  his  veto  of  the  street-cleaning  job  is  regarded  as 
the  real  beginning  of  his  public  career.  Soon  after  he 
came  into  office  the  Council  voted  to  award  the  street- 
cleaning  contract  for  five  years  to  George  Talbot,  a  local 

politician  of  power,  at  $422,500  a  year.     There  were 
4* 


82  CLEVELAND'S  VETOES. 

several  lower  bids  by  thoroughly  responsible  men.  Mayor 
Cleveland  vetoed  the  award  and  severely  condemned  the 
attempted  waste  of  the  people's  money.  The  contract 
•was  subsequently  awarded  to  the  lowest  bidder  at  $109,- 
000.  The  amount  saved  on  this  and  an  item  for  a  sewer 
during  the  first  six  months  of  his  administration  was 
about  a  million  dollars.  These  acts  brought  him  into 
prominence,  and  it  was  on  account  of  his  fearless  tight 
against  public  plunderers  that  he  was  elected  Governor. 
It  is  because  they  know  him  to  be  perfectly  honest  and 
incorruptible  that  all  men,  regardless  of  differing  po- 
litical affiliations,  are  rejoicing  over  his  successes." 

A   FAMOUS    VETO. 

Governor  Cleveland  has  made  an  unsparing  use  of  the 
veto  power,  and  his  unflinching  performance  of  what  he 
believed  to  be  his  duty  has  exposed  him  to  fierce  attacks. 
The  most  famous  of  the  vetoes  which  have  excited  hos- 
tile criticism,  perhaps,  was  that  of  the  Five-cent-fare 
Bill,  on  March  2,  1883,  only  a  few  weeks  after  his  work 
at  Albany  began. 

The  fares  for  passengers  on  the  elevated  railways  of 
New  York  were  fixed  at  five  cents,  for  any  distance,  from 
5.30  to  8.30  in  the  morning,  and  from  4.30  to  7.30  in 
the  evening,  and  at  ten  cents  for  all  other  hours.  As  the 
great  mass  of  time-employees  begin  work  at  seven  o'clock 
in  the  morning  and  stop  at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening, 


CLEVELAND'S  VETOES.  83 

they  ride  to  and  from  their  work  on  the  elevated  trains 
for  five  cents  a  trip,  the  same  as  on  the  horse-cars.  A 
young  lawyer  representing  an  uptown  metropolitan  dis- 
trict in  the  Assembly  conceived  the  idea,  soon  after  the 
success  of  the  rapid-transit  system  was  demonstrated,  of 
securing  the  enactment  of  a  law  reducing  the  rate  of  fare 
to  five  cents  for  all  hours.  The  reduction  bill  fared 
poorly  the  first  year  it  was  presented.  The  sentiment  in 
the  Assembly  was  against  it.  Probably  the  cross  pur- 
poses of  the  Democrats  in  the  Assembly  that  year  had 
somewhat  to  do  with  the  failure  of  the  bill.  The  mem- 
ber who  had  it  in  charge  was  a  Republican.  The  Tam- 
many men  were  posing  as  anti-monopolists,  and  the  anti- 
Tammany  members  from  New  York  would  not  join  the 
Tammany  members  on  any  measure  which  might  seem 
to  strengthen  the  latter  with  the  "  workingmen"  of  New 
York. 

In  1883  the  bill  was  brought  forward  by  a  Tammany 
man ;  both  branches  of  the  Legislature  were  in  Demo- 
cratic hands.  The  anti-monopoly  and  the  labor  agitation 
centred  round  the  prison-contract-labor  system  and  the 
call  for  a  railroad  commission,  and  its  momentum  carried 
the  elevated-railroad-fare  bill  along,  almost  as  a  matter  of 
course.  Both  parties  were  bidding  for  popularity  with 
laboring  men  and  anti-monopolists.  The  fare  bill  was  in- 
troduced in  both  branches  immediately  after  their  organ- 
ization, and  the  committees  reported  favorably.  In  the 


84  CLEVELAND'S  VETOES. 

Assembly,  when  the  point  of  final  ciction  was  reached,  a 
motion  to  recommit  for  the  purpose  of  giving  the  elevated 
roads  a  further  hearing  was  negatived,  70  to  48,  only  four 
New  York  City  members  voting  in  the  affirmative.  A 
motion  to  change  the  bill  from  an  arbitrary  reduction  of 
fare  to  giving  the  local  authorities  power  over  the  subject 
was  negatived,  114  to  1.  It  then  passed  by  a  vote  of  109 
to  6,  and  of  the  six  only  one  was  a  New  York  City  man. 
In  the  Senate  the  Assembly  bill  was  substituted  for  the 
Senate  bill,  and  it  passed  that  House  by  a  vote  of  24  to  5, 
not  one  of  the  five  being  a  New  York  City  senator. 

THE  GOVERNOR'S  WORDS. 

In  vetoing  the  bill,  Governor  Cleveland  said  :  "  I  am  of 
the  opinion  that  in  the  legislation  and  proceedings  which 
I  have  detailed,  and  in  the  fact  that  pursuant  thereto  the 
road  of  the  company  was  constructed  and  finished,  there 
exists  a  contract  in  favor  of  this  company  which  is  pro- 
tected by  that  clause  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  which  prohibits  the  passage  of  a  law  impairing 
the  obligation  of  contracts." 

He  also  said  :  "  It  seems  to  me  that  to  arbitrarily  re- 
duce these  fares  at  this  time  and  under  existing  circum- 

O 

stances  involves  a  breach  of  faith  on  the  part  of  the  State 
and  a  betrayal  of  confidence  which  the  State  has  in- 
vited." 

It  should  be  noted  that  part  of  the  elevated  svstem  had 


CLEVELAND'S  VETOES.  85 

been  constructed  under  the  General  Railroad  Act  of 
1850,  wherein  it  was  provided  that,  notwithstanding  the 
constitutional  right  of  the  Legislature  to  alter  the  char- 
ters of  its  corporations,  the  rate  of  fare  on  any  railway 
shall  not  be  reduced  till  it  has  been  shown  by  examina- 
tion of  the  State  Engineer  and  Surveyor  to  be  earning 
more  than  ten  per  cent  on  the  capital  actually  expended. 
Here  was  a  contract  between  the  people  of  the  State  and 
the  elevated-railway  companies. 

The  force  of  the  objections  presented  was  such  that  in 
the  Assembly  on  the  question  of  passing  the  bill  over  the 
veto  the  vote  stood  66  to  58  in  favor  of  the  Governor. 

PRESIDENT  WHITE,  OF  CORNELL,  WON  BY  THE  COUKAGE 
OF  THE  VETO. 

It  would  have  been  easy  for  Governor  Cleveland  to 
sign  the  bill  which  had  passed  the  Assembly  with  only 
four  dissenting  votes  and  so  win  cheap  popularity  at  the 
expense  of  distrusted  corporations,  but  he  chose  to  defy 
public  opinion  and  was  rewarded  by  the  admiration  of 
many  whose  appreciation  has  high  value,  as  the  following 
letter  written  by  President  "White,  of  Cornell  University, 
indicates : 

"  ITHACA,  K  Y.,  April  20th,  1883.' 

"Returning  to  Ithaca  after  an  absence  of  ten  days,  I 
find  your  kind  letter  and  enclosure.  I  will  say  to  you 
frankly  that  I  am  coming  to  have  a  very  great  respect 


86  CLEVELAND'S  VETOES. 

and  admiration  for  our  new  Governor.  His  course  on 
the  elevated-railroad  bill  first  commended  him  to  me. 
Personally,  I  should  have  been  glad  to  see  that  com- 
pany receive  a  slap.  But  the  method  of  administer- 
ing it  seemed  to  me  very  insidious  and  even  dangerous, 
and  glad  was  I  to  see  that  the  Governor  rose  above  all 
the  noise  and  claptrap  which  was  raised  about  the  ques- 
tion, went  to  the  fundamental  point  of  the  matter,  and 
vetoed  the  bill.  I  think  his  course  at  that  time  gained 
the  respect  of  every  thinking  man  in  the  State.  As  to 
his  veto  of  the  Buffalo  Fire  Department  bill,  that,  I  think, 
begins  to  lift  him  into  national  prominence ;  and  when 
you  add  such  a  significant  sign  as  his  reported  dealing 
with  the  Palmyra  statesman,  he  really  begins  to 'loom 
up.'  It  is  refreshing  to  find  that  a  spark  of  the  old  Jef- 
fersonian  statesmanship  is  really  alive  among  us.  Party 
allegiance  in  this  State  and  elsewhere  among  thinking 
men  is,  I  think,  growing  decidedly  loose.  Great  num- 
bers of  men  are  quietly  on  the  lookout  for  men  who  can 
grapple,  not  with  the  old  abolition  question  or  the  civil- 
war  question,  but  with  the  question  of  a  real  reform  in 
our  civil  service — the  question  of  the  present  and  future. 
No  man  and  no  party  can  be  built  up  or  kept  up  on  clap- 
trap, but  on  real  determination  and  power  to  move  in 
this  new  line  parties  and  men  can  alone  be  brought  to 
supremacy. 

"  Thus  far  every  party  which  has  arrived  at  power  and 


CLEVELAND'S  VETOES.  87 

kept  it  for  any  length  of  time  has  represented  some  real 
principle,  something  which  commended  itself  if  not  to  a 
majority  at  least  to  an  aggressive  body  of  voters,  even 
though  that  body  be  small.  The  present  time  is  no 
exception  to  this  rule. 

"  Congratulating  you  on  the  record  of  the  Governor 
thus  far,  and,  in  common  with  vast  numbers  of  our 
fellow-citizens,  longing  that  he  may  be  the  man  we  have 
all  been  looking  for,  I  remain 

"  Very  truly  yours, 

"AND.  D.  WHITE. 
"  Henry  A.  Richmond,  Esq.,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

"  P.S. — I  ought  to  have  included  in  the  Governor's 
titles  to  respect  his  recent  appointment  to  the  Capitol 
Commission,  which,  from  all  accounts,  is  exceedingly 
honorable  to  him,  not  only  as  regards  the  man  he  did 
appoint  but  the  man  he  did  not  appoint,  and  also,  since 
writing  the  above,  his  appointment  to  the  Insurance 
Department.  A.  D.  W." 

THE    CONDUCTORS    AND   DRIVERS'    BILL. 

Governor  Cleveland  has  been  unjustly  condemned  be- 
cause he  refused   to  sign  the  following  bill,  which  was 
presented  in  the  last  Legislature  by  Mr.  Earl : 
"AN  ACT  to  regulate  the  hours  of  labor  of  conductors 

and  drivers  of  cars  drawn  by  horses  in  cities. 

"  SEC.  1.  On  and  after  the  passage  of  this  act  it  shall 


88  CLEVELAND'S  VETOES. 

be  unlawful  for  any  officer  or  agent  of  any  railroad  corpo- 
ration in  any  of  the  cities  of  this  State,  whose  cars  are 
drawn  by  horses,  to  exact  from  conductors  and  drivers 
employed  by  them  more  than  twelve  hours'  labor  for  a 
day's  work,  and  such  corporations  shall  out  of  said  twelve 
hours'  labor  allow  conductors  and  drivers  a  reasonable 
time  to  obtain  meals. 

"  SEC.  2.  Any  officer  or  agent  of  any  such  corporation 
who  shall  openly  violate  or  otherwise  evade  the  provi- 
sions of  this  act  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  punish- 
able by  a  fine  of  not  to  exceed  six  months,  or  both  fine 
and  imprisonment  for  such  offence." 

Mr.  John  Foord,  long  the  influential  editor  of  the 
New  York  Times*  whose  editorial  chair  he  left  in  1883 
to  take  charge  of  the  Brooklyn  Union  as  an  independent 
newspaper,  has  given  the  following  sketch  of  the  pecu- 
liar history  of  the  passage  of  this '  bill  through  both 
branches  of  the  Legislature  : 

"  When  it  was  introduced,  it  was  referred  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  Affairs  of  Cities,  when  it  ought  to  have 
gone  to  the  Committee  on  Judiciary.  "When  it  was  dis- 
cussed in  the  Cities  Committee,  two  thirds  of  its  mem- 
bers laughed  at  it,  and  said  that  if  it  were  enacted  it 
would  be  'a  dead  law.'  All  the  members  of  the  Assem- 
bly Judiciary  Committee  laughed  at  the  bill  when  they 
saw  it  on  the  printed  files  of  the  Assembly.  They  said 
that  the  Legislature  could  not  interfere  with  private  con- 


CLEVELAND'S  VETOES.  89 

tracts.  In  this  they  were  sustained  by  a  recent  decision 
of  the  Court  of  Appeals  declaring  the  act  prohibiting  the 
making  of  cigars  in  tenement  houses  unconstitutional, 
on  the  ground  that  the  Legislature  could  not  pass  a  law 
to  prevent  individuals  from  contracting  to  labor  where 
they  pleased,  and  to  labor  as  long  as  they  pleased,  if  that 
labor  was  not  detrimental  to  public  health.  As  a  piece 
of  buncombe,  however,  the  Conductors  and  Drivers' 
Twelve  Hours  Bill  was  passed  in  the  Assembly  with  a 
laugh.  "When  it  reached  the  Senate  it  was  referred  to 
the  Senate  Committee  on  Cities,  where  it  was  allowed  to 
sleep  until  near  the  close  of  the  season.  A  majority  of 
the  members  of  that  committee  were  opposed  to  it  at 
first,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  not  worth  the  paper  it 
was  printed  on.  Assemblyman  Earl  went  to  Senator 
Daggett,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Senate  Cities  Com- 
mittee, and  asked  him  to  prevail  upon  the  committee  to 
report  the  bill  favorably.  Mr. Daggett  replied:  'I  cannot 
see  how  I  can  ask  the  committee  to  report  a  bill  so 
clearly  unconstitutional.  If  it  is  enacted,  it  will  do  the 
conductors  and  drivers  no  good — it  will  not  have  the 
effect  of  shortening  the  hours  of  their  daily  labor.' 
When  the  session  was  nearing  its  close,  Governor  Cleve- 
land's name  was  more  prominently  and  more  generally 
named  for  the  Democratic  nomination  for  President  than 
at  any  previous  time,  and  it  struck  Senator  Daggett  and 
Senator  Gibbs,  chairman  of  the  Cities  Committee,  that 


90  CLEVELAND'S  VETOES. 

it  would  be  a  good  Republican  Party  move  to  report  the 
bill  favorably,  procure  its  passage,  and  subject  the  Gov- 
ernor, who  would  be  compelled  to  veto  it,  to  ignorant 
popular  clamor.  At  an  informal  talk  between  leading 
Republican  assemblymen  and  senators  at  the  Kenmore 
Hotel,  Albany,  during  the  latter  part  of  April  or  begin- 
ning of  May,  it  was  conceded,  first,  that  the  bill  was  a 
humbug,  but  ought  to  be  pushed  to  passage ;  second, 
that  as  a  claptrap  measure  it  would  take  well  with  the 
people;  third,  that  the  Governor  would  be  compelled 
to  veto  it  because  it  interfered  with  the  rights  of  both 
employers  and  employees,  or,  in  other  words,  because  it 
was  a  humbug ;  fourth,  that  if  he  did  veto  it,  the 
laboring  men  would  stigmatize  him  as  a  creature  of 
corporations,  and  a  good  handle  could  be  made  of  it  in 
opposing  his  election  as  President  if  he  was  nominated 
by  the  Democrats.  So  the  bill  was  passed  by  Republican 
senators,  they  knowing  that  there  was  not  a  provision  in 
it  which  was  constitutional,  and  that  if  the  Governor 
performed  his  duty  he  would  veto  it." 

"  NOT   IN   THE   INTEREST   OF   WORKINGMEN." 

In  vetoing  the  bill  Governor  Cleveland  said :  "  I  fail 
to  see  any  good  purpose  to  be  gained  by  this  bill.  It  is 
distinctly  and  palpably  class  legislation,  in  that  it  only 
applies  to  conductors  and  drivers  on  horse-railroads.  It 
does  not  prohibit  the  making  of  a  contract  for  any  num- 


CLEVELAND'S  VETOES.  91 

ber  of  hours'  work,  and  if  it  does  it  is  an  interference 
with  the  employer's  as  well  as  employee's  rights.  If  the 
car  drivers  and  conductors  work  fewer  hours,  they  must 
receive  less  pay  ;  and  this  bill  does  not  prevent  that.  I 
cannot  think  this  bill  is  in  the  interest  of  the  working- 
man.'' 

A  LEGISLATOR'S  TRICK  MAKES  A  VETO  NECESSARY. 

The  principal  reform  measure  which  Governor  Cleve- 
land vetoed  was  the  Tenure  of  Office  Bill,  by  which  the 
next  Mayor  of  New  York  was  given  power  to  make  his 
own  selections  for  Corporation  Counsel  and  Commis- 
sioner of  Public  Works.  This  was  not  a  Roosevelt  but 
a  Senate  bill,  although  it  had  the  hearty  co-operation  of 
Mr.  Roosevelt,  and  would  have  become  a  law  but  for  the 
treachery  of  one  of  Johnny  O'Brien's  men  in  the  Assem- 
bly— Isaac  Dayton,  of  New  York.  It  had  passed  the 
Senate  and  was  on  its  finakpassage  in  the  Assembly, 
when  Mr.  Dayton,  as  a  Republican  and  a  professed  friend 
of  the  bill,  offered  an  amendment  which  was  adopted. 
This,  in  the  words  of  the  author  of  the  bill,  converted  it 
into  a  "shabby  piece  of  legislation,  quite  unfit  to  find  a 
place  on  the  statute-book,"  and  as  such  the  Governor 
vetoed  it.  It  was  not  examined  by  him  till  after -the 
Legislature  had  adjourned,  and  he  could  not,  therefore, 
return  it  for  amendment. 
,  As  soon  as  the  veto  appeared,  Mr.  Scott,  the  draughts- 


92  CLEVELAND'S  VETOES. 

man  of  tlie  hill,  declared  in  a  letter  puhlished  in  the  Times 
of  June  ISth.  1884,  that  he  entirely  agreed  with  the  Gov- 
ernor as  to  the  necessity  of  vetoing  it.  That  snch  a  bill 
would  have  led  to  protracted  litigation  over  the  offices 
instead  of  reform  seems  to  be  beyond  dispute,  and  the 
terms  used  by  the  Governor  in  vetoing  it — "  defective 
and  shabby  legislation" — were  very  mild. 

THE  MECHANICS'  LIEN  BILL. 

An  attempt  to  excite  the  clamor  of  workingmen  be- 
cause the  Mechanics'  Lien  Bill  was  vetoed  has  been 
made  by  the  enemies  of  Governor  Cleveland,  but  the 
Brooklyn  Eagle,  a  powerful  journal  which  certainly  pos- 
sesses the  confidence  of  the  class  it  addressed,  said  of  that 
measure:  '•  The  Eagle  was  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  sub- 
stance of  the  amendment  to  the  law  relating  to  mechanics' 
liens,  but  the  bill  intended  to  effect  it  was  drawn  so 
bunglingly  that  it  is  not  easy  to  blame  the  Governor  for 
refusing  to  sign  it.  At  all  events,  his  integrity  of  pur- 
pose in  this  matter,  as  in  the  others,  is  beyond  question." 

CLEVELAND'S  VETOES  AND  SOLDIERS. 

The  Boston  Journal  attempted  to  excite  the  ill-feeling 
of  the  veterans  toward  Cleveland  at  the  beginning  of  his 
campaign  for  the  Presidency  by  saying :  "  The  veterans 
are  not  shouting  for  Governor  Cleveland,  because,  as 
Mayor  of  Buffalo,  he  vetoed  an  appropriation  of  three 


CLEVELAND'S  VETOES.  93 

hundred  dollars  for  Memorial-day  ;  because,  as  Governor, 
he  vetoed  a  bill  which  permitted  posts  of  the  Grand  Army 
to  use  State  muskets  after  giving  bonds  for  their  safe-keep- 
ing and  return  ;  because  he  vetoed  a  bill  making  it  a  mis- 
demeanor for  any  person  to  wear  a  Grand  Army  badge 
who  is  not  an  honorably  discharged  soldier  and  sailor — 
a  bill  which  was  petitioned  for  by  every  Grand  Army 
post  in  New  York." 

This  unjust  attack  prompted  Mr.  Daniel  Manning,  of  the 
Albany  Argus,  to  speak  effectively  for  his  distinguished 
friend,  as  follows :  "  As  the  resolution  appropriating 
three  hundred  dollars  for  Memorial-day  was  a  direct  viola- 
tion of  the  constitution  of  the  State  and  of  the  charter  of 
the  city  of  Buffalo,  of  course  Mayor  Cleveland,  who  is  a 
law-abiding  officer,  vetoed  it.  The  constitution  and  the 
charter  are  small  things  to  the  Boston  Journal,  no  doubt; 
but  while  the  Journal  man  would  show  his  patriotism 
by  violating  these  instruments  of  law,  it  is  quite  certain 
he  would  not  show  his  patriotism  as  Mayor  Cleveland  did, 
by  heading  a  subscription-list  and  raising  more  money 
than  the  resolution  called  for.  This  is  the  reason  why  the 
veterans  of  Buffalo  are  shouting  for  Cleveland,  the  Boston 

o  ' 

Journal  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  2.  Governor 
Cleveland  did  sign  the  bill  giving  to  Grand  Army  posts 
the  use  of  the  State  armories,  the  Boston  Journal  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding.  3.  Governor  'Cleveland  did 
veto  the  bill  relative  to  Grand  Array  badges,  not  because 


94  CLEVELAND'S  VETOES. 

it  was  made  a  misdemeanor  for  any  bnt  an  honorably  dis- 
charged soldier  or  sailor  to  wear  them,  but  because  the 
bill  did  not  say  what  it  intended  to  do,  but  made  it  a 
misdemeanor  to  wear  a  badge  in  violation  of  the  rules 
and  by-laws  of  any  post,  a  point  the  wearer  of  which 
might  be  wholly  unacquainted  with.  Had  the  bill  been 
drawn  so  as  to  accomplish  what  it  set  out  to  do,  it  would 
have  been  a  law  to-day.  If  the  Journal  has  any  more 
fibs  to  tell,  bring  them  out,  and  the  Argus  will  nail  them 
as  fast  as  they  come." 

A  VETO   WHICH   SAVED   THE   SAVINGS   BANKS. 

The  New  York  Mail  and  Express  of  July  28th,  1884, 
after  noting  the  fact  that  "since  1880  the  increase  of  de- 
posits in  the  State  and  savings  banks  of  the  country  has 
been  nearly  $500,000,000,  and  in  this  State  the  increase 
has  been  especially  rapid,  the  New  York  savings-bank 
deposits  being  equal  to  $81.68  per  capita  of  population 
at  the  end  of  1883,"  said  :  "The  fact  that  an  attempt 
was  made  to  weaken  the  credit  of  the  savings  banks  by 
widening  the  scope  of  their  investments  ought  to  be  con- 
spicuous in  accounting  for  their  present  prosperity.  Had 
not  that  attempt  been  defeated,  the  Bank  Superintendent 
might  not  have  been  able  to  make  as  encouraging  a  re- 
port as  the  one  he  now  presents." 

Governor  Cleveland's  veto  of  May  19th,  1883,  contained 
the  following  :  "  The  bill  before  me  provides  that  savings 


CLEVELAND'S  VETOES.  95 

banks  may  invest  the  money  of  depositors  in  bonds  and 
securities  which  are  excluded  by  the  present  carefully  pre- 
pared statutes  regulating  this  subject.  Among  other 
things,  it  permits  the  investment  of  such  funds  'in  other 
good  securities  (excepting  bills  of  exchange,  promissory 
notes,  deposits  of  personal  property,  and  stocks  to  which 
by  law  the  personal  liability  of  stockholders  attaches) 
which  may  be  approved  by  the  Superintendent  of  the 
Banking  Department,  the  Governor,  Comptroller,  and 
State  Treasurer,  or  a  majority  of  them.' 

"  It  must  be  conceded,  I  think,  that  no  absolute  cer- 
tainty attends  the  judgment  of  men  in  relation  to  the 
matter  of  good  securities.  The  State  officers  mentioned 
in  the  bill  should  not  be  burdened  or  entrusted  with  this 
important  duty. 

"  I  see  no  provision  in  the  bill  by  which  any  security 
can  be  withdrawn  from  the  list  if  once  approved  by 
these  officers,  even  though  it  may  become  unsafe  or 
worthless  as  an  investment." 


CHAPTER  V. 


CLEVELAND  AND  THE  WOPJvINGMEX. 

Cleveland  as  a  Workingman. — His  Words  on  the  Protection  of 
Labor. — The  New  York  Times  on  his  Record. — The  Veto  Power  not 
used  against  Workingmeu. — President  Thayer,  of  the  New  York 
Labor  Union,  on  Cleveland's  Vetoes. — Comments  of  the  Springfield 
Republican,  New  York  Herald,  and  Thomas  B.  Couuery,  the  New 
York  Journalist. — The  Boston  Post  on  Cleveland's  Services  to  Work- 
ingmen. — Senator  Daly,  the  Representative  of  Metropolitan  Work- 
ingmen,  on  Governor  Cleveland  and  the  Labor  Bills. — A  Circular 
issued  by  New  York  Workingmen. — Twenty-four  Reasons  why 
Workingmen  should  Vote  and  Work  to  make  Grover  Cleveland 
President  of  the  United  Slates. 

GKOVER  CLEVELAND  is  a  man  who  is  not  afraid  of 
hard  work,  and  it  is  strange  that  he  should  be  regarded  by 
any  as  lacking  sympathy  for  workingmen.  Starting  with 
a  common-school  education,  by  industry  and  application 
lie  has  done  much  to  repair  the  defects  of  early  training, 
and  his  career  is  typically  American,  the  boy  of  fourteen 
working  his  way  from  a  position  as  clerk  in  a  village 
store  up  to  that  of  a  candidate  for  the  highest  office  in 
the  greatest  nation  on  earth. 


CLEVELAND   AND  THE  WORKINGMEN.  97 

And  lie  lias  explicitly  declared  his  sentiments  concern- 
ing workingraen  in  the  following  words : 

"The  laboring  classes  constitute  the  main  part  of  our 
population.  They  should  be  protected  in  their  effort 
peaceably  to  assert  their  rights  when  endangered  by  ag- 
gregated capital,  and  all  statutes  on  this  subject  should 
recognize  the  care  of  the  State  for  honest  toil,  and  be 

O  * 

framed  with  a  view  of  improving  the  condition  of  the 
workingman." 

The  New  York  Times  of  July  18th  said : 
"  The  friends  of  Governor  Cleveland  -welcome  a 
thorough  examination  of  his  record  by  workingmen. 
The  workingmen  of  the  United  States  are  intelligent, 
and  they  like  fair  play.  They  will  not  be  deceived. 
Careful  examination  and  free  discussion  will  prove  to 
them  that  this  candidate  of  honest  men  is  not,  and  has 
not  been,  their  enemy,  and  that,  as  the  advocate  of  hon- 
est government  and  a  sound  national  policy,  he  is,  and 
will  be,  their  best  friend." 


THE   VETO   POWER   NOT   USED   AGAINST   WORKINGMEN. 

President  Thayer,  of  the  New  York  State  Labor  Un- 
ion, has  given  a  valuable  statement  of  Governor  Cleve- 
land's relation  to  legislation  in  the  interest  of  working- 
men  in  a  letter  expressing  his  intention  to  vote  for  Cleve- 
land for  President,  but  denying  the  right  of  any  man  to 


98  CLEVELAND   AND  THE   WORKINGMEN. 

promise  the  votes  of  workingmen  as  a  class  to  any  candi- 
date.    He  said,  in  a  letter  to  the  Albany  Argus : 

"  The  workingmen's  assembly  of  this  State  lias,  since 
I  have  been  at  the  head  of  that  organization,  succeeded 
in  passing  through  the  legislature  the  following  bills: 
Abolishing  the  manufacture  of  hats  in  State-prisons,  cre- 
ating a  bureau  of  labor  statistics,  the  tenement-house  cigar 
bill  (twice),  the  abolition  of  convict  contract  labor,  the 
lien  law,  and  the  conductors  and  drivers'  bill — seven  in 
all.  Of  these  measures  Governor  Cleveland  signed  five 
and  vetoed  two,  viz.,  the  lien  law  and  the  conductors  and 
drivers'  bill.  As  to  the  lien  law,  it  is  generally  acknowl- 
edged now  that  he  did  us  a  kindness  in  vetoing  that  bill, 
because,  through  errors  of  our  own  in  drafting  the  meas- 
ure, the  bill  as  passed  would  have  been  a  positive  injury 
to  us.  The  conductors  and  drivers'  bill,  I  think,  he  should 
have  signed.  So  the  record  shows  that  we  have  sent 
to  Governor  Cleveland  six  perfect  bills,  and  he  has  signed 
five  and  vetoed  one.  In  addition  to  the-  labor  measures 
prepared  by  our  organization,  Governor  Cleveland  has 
signed  a  bill  introduced  by  Senator  Fassett  which  makes 
workingmen  preferred  creditors  in  case  of  assignment  or 
failure  of  the  firm  or  corporation  by  which  they  are  .em- 
ployed. So,  to  sum  the  matter  up,  he  has  approved  of 
six  bills  favorable  to  our  interests  and  disapproved  of  one. 
By  his  record  on  legitimate  labor  measures  I  judge  him, 
and  on  the  strength  of  that  record  I  shall  support  him. 


CLEVELAND  AND  THE   WORKINGMEN".  99 

I  do  not  wish  it  understood  that  I  am  voicing  the  senti- 
ments of  any  one  but  myself.  I  have  no  authority  to 
speak  for  the  workingmen  on  political  subjects." 


WOKKINGMEN    COMMENTS   ON   THE   VETOES. 

The  Springfield  Republican  of  July  12th,  1884,  de- 
clared, concerning  the  Five-cent-fare  Bill,  "it  should 
strengthen  Cleveland,  if  properly  presented."  Even  the 
New  York  Tribune  asserted  that  the  veto  was  necessary 
at  the  time  it  was  announced. 

The  New  York  Herald  of  July  20th,  1884,  said  of  the 
Conductors  and  Drivers'  veto  :  "  Were  the  men  paid  by 
the  day  the  bill  would  have  been  a  benefit  to  them.  As 
they  are  paid  by  the  trip  it  could  only  have  operated,  if 
at  all,  to  reduce  their  present  scanty  earnings.  It  was 
not  a 'car  drivers'  bill;'  it  was  a  'car  company's'  bill, 
and  the  Governor,  being  an  anti-corporation  man,  re- 
fused to  sign  it." 

Thomas  B.  Connery,  so  long  the  managing  editor  of 
the  New  York  Herald,  remarked  concerning  the  admis- 
sion of  Mr.  Blair,  chairman  of  the  executive  committee 
of  the  New  York  State  Workingmen's  Assembly,  as  to 
the  vetoes  :  "  One  of  the  objections  urged  against  Gov- 
ernor Cleveland  is  his  veto  of  the  Mechanics'  Lien  Bill. 
It  is  acknowledged  by  Mr.  George  Blair  and  the  other 
leaders  among  the  workingmen  that  it  was  a  bad  bill  in 


100  CLEVELAND   AND   THE    WORKINGMEN. 

the  shape  in  which  it  was  passed,  and  that  the  Governor 
was  right  in  disapproving  it.  If  the  other  cases  in  which 
he  is  charged  with  using  the  veto  power  to  the  disadvan- 
tage of  workingmen  are  examined  it  will  be  found  that, 
like  the  Mechanics'  Lien  Bill,  they  were  bad  and  that  he 
was  rio-ht  in  vetoing  them.  A  Governor  who  dares  to 

O  O 

do  right  will  make  a  good  President." 

The  Boston  Post  of  Jnly  17th,  1884,  said  :  "Had  Gov- 
ernor Cleveland  been  a  friend  to  monopolists  and  a  foe  to 
labor,  he  would  have  signed  this  bill  [savings  banks] 
without  question,  for  it  was  one  that  speculators  and  capi- 
talists would  be  more  benefited  by  than  any  other  class." 
The  Post  then  quotes  the  following  from  the  veto  of 
the  bill :  "  But  I  am  firmly  of  the  opinion  that  these  in- 
stitutions are,  as  their  name  implies,  a  place  of  deposit  of 
the  savings  of  those  among  the  poor  and  laboring  people 
who  see  the  propriety  of  putting  aside  a  part  of  their  earn- 
ings for  future  need  or  as  the  beginning  of  an  accumula- 
tion. Such  depositors  are  not  and  should  not  be  in- 
vestors, seeking  as  a  paramount  purpose  an  income  by 
way  of  interest  on  their  deposits." 

Senator  James  Daly,  peculiarly  the  representative  of 
the  workingmen  of  New  York,  his  district  embracing 
city  wards  known  as  the  home  of  that  class,  said,  about 
the  same  time:  "Even  if  it  is  conceded  that  the  Gov- 
ernor vetoed  two  or  three  of  what  are  claimed  to  be  labor 
bills,  he  has  approved  at  least  three  fourths  of  all  those 


CLEVELAND    AND   THE   WORKINGMEtf.  101 

that  reached  him — more  than  had  ever  fallen  to  the  lot 
of  any  of  his  predecessors  to  approve — and  he  has  vetoed 
such  as  were  delusive,  unjust,  or  impracticable.  Individ- 
ual self-reliance  is  the  basis  of  our  prosperity  in  this 
country;  its  best  hope  lies  in  maintaining  the  dignity  of 
labor.  I  cannot  believe  that  the  independent  workmen 
of  this  State  after  cool  reflection  will  reject  one  who  has 
done  so  much  in  their  behalf  and  accept  one  who  has  done 

nothing  but  vaguely  promise." 

« 

TWENTY-FOUR   REASONS    OF   WORKINGMEN. 

At  a  meeting  of  workingmen  held  in  New  York  on 
July  24th,  1884,  it  was  decided  to  circulate  one  hundred 
thousand  copies  of  the  following : 

"  Twenty-four  reasons  why  we,  as  workingmen,  will 
vote  and  work  for  Cleveland : 

"  1. — We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  signed, 
on  June  4th,  1884,  the  bill  which  abolishes  contract  child- 
labor  in  all  the  institutions  in  this  State. 

"  2. — We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  signed 
the  bill  which  reduced  the  exorbitant  fees  of  one  of  the 
greatest  monopolies  in  the  country,  namely,  the  Associa- 
tion of  New  York  Pilots,  who  are  paid  by  a  direct  tax 
on  commerce.  They  are  rich  men,  and  their  fees  were 
from  four  to  five  thousand  dollars  for  each  man  every 


102  CLEVELAND   AND  THE   WORKINQMEN 

year.  Cleveland  reduced  them  to  twenty-five  hundred 
dollars  a  year. 

"  3. — "We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  signed  the 
bill  which  secures  a  pension  to  the  widows  and  orphans 
of  policemen.  One  section  of  this  bill  provides  for  test- 
ing boilers  and  thus  adds  to  the  safety  of  every  working 
engineer. 

*'  4. — We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  by  vetoing 
the  elevated-rail  road-fare  bill  he  set  an  example  to  all  em- 
ployees of  honest  dealing  wifli  laboring  men,  and  showed 
the  Deed  of  keeping  a  bargain  fair  and  square  with 
every  man. 

"  5. — We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  signed 
the  bill  which  authorizes  the  spending  of  two  millions  of 
dollars  ($2,000,000)  for  additional  common  schools  in 
New  York  City. 

"  6. — "We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  ap- 
pointed, on  the  very  day  the  bill  passed,  a  head  of  the 
bureau  of  labor.  This  bureau  of  labor  did  much  to 
awaken  the  interest  that  resulted  in  the  abolition  of  con- 
vict contract-labor. 

"  7. — We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  would  not 
sign  a  bill  which  would  have  reduced  the  wages  of  car 
drivers  and  conductors  one  third. 

"  8. — "We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  did  not 
sign  a  bill  which  took  away  the  rights  of  workingmen. 
This  was  called  a  mechanics'  lien  law,  but  actually  bene- 


CLEVELAND   AND  THE   WORKINGMEN.  103 

fited  contractors  and  not  the  men  who  worked  with  their 
hands  on  a  job.  It  made  it  cost  ten  times  as  much  for  a 
poor  man  to  get  the  money  due  him  as  it  does  now,  and 
the  lawyers  would  have  got  big  fees  and  been  chiefly 
benefited. 

"  9. — We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  made  the 
Republican  Legislature  take  back  a  bill  that  only  went 
half  way  and  compelled  them  to  pass  a  bill,  which  he  at 
once  signed,  abolishing  convict  contract  labor  in  every 
institution — State,  county,  and  city. 

"  10. — We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  ap- 
pointed a  railroad  commission,  which,  by  what  it  has 
made  railroad  corporations  do,  has  made  travelling  on 
the  cars  safer  and  more  comfortable  for  every  man, 
woman,  and  child. 

"  11. — We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  signed 
two  bills  abolishing  tenement-house  cigar-making  and  so 
gave  health  and  enjoyment  of  home  to  thousands. 

"  12. — We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  signed  a 
bill  making  workingmen  first  creditors  for  wages  where 
an  employer  fails. 

"  13. — We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  sio-ned 

o 

the  bill  appointing  a  tenement-house  commission  which 
is  to  report  how  tenement-houses  can  be  made  more 
healthful  and  comfortable.  This  will  benefit  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  men  who  work  all  day,  and  especially  add 
to  the  happiness  of. their  wives  and  children. 


104  CLEVELAND   AND   THE    WORKINGMEN. 

"  14. — We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  signed 
the  bill  which  did  away  with  the  manufacture  of  hats  in 
State-prisons.  This  bill  ended  a  convict  contract  compe- 
tition which  had  thrown  hundreds  of  honest  workingmeii 
out  of  employment. 

"  ]  5. — We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  signed 
the  emigration  commission  bill ;  the  provisions  of  which 
protected  emigrants  from  robbery,  injustice,  and  extor- 
tion. 

"  16. — "We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  signed 
the  bill  limiting  the  charges  of  pawnbrokers  and  pre- 
venting the  sale.of  a  poor  man's  furniture. 

"  17. — We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  signed 
the  bill  which  gave  the  people  a  chance  to  speak  their 
opinion  of  convict  contract  labor.  The  people  having 
spoken,  he  signed  at  once  the  bill  which  carried  out  their 
wishes. 

"  18. — We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  signed 

O 

the  bill  that  savings  banks  should  be  more  carefully 
examined,  and  so  the  savings  of  laboring  men  and  women 
should  be  kept  safe. 

"  19. — We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  sio-ned 

O 

the  law  to  give  pure  butter  and  cheese,  and  also  to  pre- 
vent the  sale  of  watered  milk. 

"  20. — We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  recom- 
mended again  and  again  a  large  appropriation  for  the 
employment  of  men  on  the  new  Capitol,  which 'appropri- 


CLEVELAND    AND   THE   WORKINGMEN.  105 

ation  was  refused  by  the  Republican  Legislature.  This 
action  of  the  Republican  Legislature  in  refusing  to  ap- 
propriate money  has  made  it  necessary  to  discharge  hun- 
dreds of  men.  There  is  plenty  of  work,  but  no  money 
to  pay  for  it. 

"  21. — We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  signed 
two  bills,  one  in  1883  and  one  in  1884,  to  prevent  cruel 
and  unjust  treatment  of  children. 

"  22. — We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  signed 
the  bill  which  largely  reduced  the  fees  of  receivers  of 
corporations  and  saved  the  money  for  the  people  to 
whom  it  belonged. 

"  23. — We  will  vote  for  Cleveland  because  he  signed 
the  bill  which  compelled  insurance  companies  to  keep 
their  promises,  and  so  protected  the  widows  and  orphans 
of  men  who  had  paid  their  money  to  be  insured. 

"  24. — We  will  vote  and  work  for  Cleveland  because 
he  has  done  more  for  the  workingmen  of  the  State  of 
New  York  than  any  governor  we  have  ever  had,  and  be- 
cause every  act  shows  he  has  at  heart  the  true  interest  of 
the  workingmen." 

THE  WORKINGMAN'S  FRIEND. 

Our  Society  Journal,  an  organ  of  co-operative  societies, 
thus  addressed  New  York  workingmen  in  an  issue  soon 

after  Cleveland's  nomination  for  the  Presidency:  "  There 
5* 


106  CLEVELAND   AND   THE   WORKINGMEN. 

are  over  200,000  voters  in  this  State — and  a  great  many  of 
them,  too,  are  in  the  ranks  of  the  hard  workers — who  have 
great  reason  to  know  that  Governor  Cleveland  has  been 
and  is  their  friend.  These  200,000  voters  are  to  be  found 
in  the  ranks  of  the  American  Order  of  United  Working- 
men,  the  American  Legion,  of  Honor,  the  Knights  of 
Honor,  the  Royal  Arcanum,  and  various  other  fraternal 
societies,  and  in  the  membership  of  our  assessment  asso- 
ciations in  this  State.  These  associations  had  no  rights 
which  the  Insurance  Department  was  bound  to  respect 
when  G rover  Cleveland  came  into  office.  Now  they  have 
equal  rights  before  the  law  side  by  side  with  the  largest 
insurance  companies.  .  .  .  Had  Grover  Cleveland  been  a 
monopolist  or  an  enemy  to  the  workingman,  none  of 
these  beneficent  and  valuable  legislative  enactments 
would  have  received  his  signature.  They  all  received 
it,  and  this  is  our  answer  to  the  demagogue  cry  that 
'  Cleveland  is  not  the  workingman's  friend.'  " 


CHAPTER  VI. 


CLEVELAND  IN  THE    CHICAGO    CONTEN- 
TION. 

Like  Abraham  Lincoln,  Grover  Cleveland  Receives  a  Nomination 
for  the  Presidency  Without  Working  for  it. — General  Pryor's  Quick 
Discernment  of  the  Mood  of  Democrats  in  National  Convention  at 
Chicago. — Mr.  Lock  wood,  the  Buffalo  Lawyer,  who  has  Nominated 
Cleveland  for  Many  Offices. — His  Eloquent  Speech  in  Presenting 
his  Name  for  the  Presidency. — Mayor  Carter  Harrison,  of  Chicago, 
the  First  to  Second  the  Nomination. — The  Grady  Incident,  and  Mr. 
Apgar's  Reply. — Mr.  Jones,  of  Minnesota. — General  Bragg,  of  Wis- 
consin, who  "Loves  Cleveland  most  for  the  Enemies  he  has  Made." 
— Nominated  on  the  Second  Ballot. 

Like  Abraham  Lincoln,  Grover  Cleveland  has  ob- 
tained the  nomination  for  the  Presidency  almost  without 
an  effort  to  influence  the  action  of  the  Convention  which 
nominated  him,  and  in  his  case  it  may  be  truly  said  that 
the  office  has  sought  the  man,  and  not  the  man  the  of- 
fice. When  the  Democratic  National  Convention  met 
in  Chicago  on  Tuesday,  July  8,  1884,  there  were  many- 
delegates  who  hoped  to  effect  the  nomination  of  some 
other  candidate,  in  whose  personal  fortune  and  political 
future  they  were  more  directly  interested. 


108         CLEVELAND  IK  THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION. 

General  Roger  A.  Pryor  was  among  the  number,  and 
his  comment  after  returning  to  New  York  with  General 
Benjamin  F.  Butler,  with  whom  he  is  very  intimate, 
gives  a  vivid  representation  of  the  situation  as  it  ap- 
peared to  sagacious  observers  immediately  after  the  Con- 
vention was  opened.  General  Pryor  says : 

"  I  labored  for  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Bayard.  In  one 
sense  I  was  not  disappointed.  I  saw  at  once  upon  arriv- 
ing at  Chicago,  and  so  telegraphed  to  New  York,  that 
Cleveland  would  be  the  nominee.  I  saw  the  efficient 
organization  in  his  support.  In  the  second  place  I  ob- 
served the  prevalent  conviction  among  the  delegates 
outside  of  this  State  that  he  was  the  strongest  man  in  the 
State  and  would  most  probably  carry  New  York." 

It  was  not  through  any  strategy  of  managers  that 
Governor  Cleveland's  name  started  a  cheer  whenever  it 
was  mentioned,  but  it  was  evident  from  the  first  that  he 
was  the  choice  of  the  great  majority  within  the  con- 
vention-hall. His  name  was  presented  to  the  Conven- 
tion by  Mr.  Lockwood,  of  New  York.  Mr.  Lockwood 
is  a  lawyer  of  Buffalo.  Ever  since  Cleveland  started 
upon  his  political  race  Mr.  Lockwood  has  been  asso- 
ciated with  him.  He  nominated  him  for  Sheriff  of  Erie 
County,  and  four  years  later  nominated  him  for  Mayor 
of  Buffalo.  At  the  State  Convention  of  1882  he  nomi- 
nated Cleveland  for  Governor  of  New  York.  Mr.  Lock- 
wood  made  one  of  the  best  speeches  of  the  session.  He 


CLEVELAND   IN   THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION.          Ill 

has  black  hair,  with  a  round  bald  spot  on  top ;  heavy 
black  mustache ;  broad,  high  forehead  ;  dark  eyes,  and 
no  beard.  He  is  of  powerful  frame ;  gestures  strong ; 
voice  very  powerful,  easily  filling  the  vast  hall. 

A  great  cheer  filled  the  hall  when  the  State  of  New 
York  was  reached  in  the  call  of  the  roll,  and  Mr.  Man- 
ning, of  New  York,  arose  and  said,  "Mr.  Chairman, 
New  York  presents  the  name  of  Grover  Cleveland,  and 
desires  to  be  heard  through  Daniel  Lockwood,  of  Buf- 
falo." 

MR.  LOCKWOOD' s  SPEECH. 

Mr.  Lockwood  was  escorted  to  the  platform,  and,  being 
introduced  by  the  Chair,  spoke  as  follows : 

"  MR.  CHAIRMAN  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVEN- 
TION: It  is  with  no  ordinary  feeling,  and  with  no  ordi- 
nary feeling  of  responsibility,  that  I  appear  before  this 
Convention  as  representative  of  the  Democracy  of  -the 
State  of  New  York  for  the  purpose  of  placing  in 
nomination  before  this  Convention  a  gentleman  from  the 
State  of  New  York  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  of 
the  United  States.  This  responsibility  is  made  greater 
when  I  remember  that  the  richest  pages  of  American 
history  have  been  made  up  from  the  records  of  Demo- 
cratic administration.  This  responsibility  is  made  still 
greater  when  I  remember  that  the  only  blot  in  the  po- 
litical history  done  at  "Washington,  an  outrage  upon  the 
rights  of  the  American  people,  was  in  1876,  and  that 


112         CLEVELAND   IN  THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION. 

that  outrage  and  that  injury  to  justice  is  still  unavenged ; 
and  this  responsibility  is  not  lessened  when  I  recall  the 
fact  that  the  gentleman  whose  name  I  shall  present  to 
you  has  been  my  political  associate  from  my  youth  to 
the  present  hour.  Side  by  side  have  we  marched  to  the 
tune  of  Democratic  music ;  side  by  side  have  we  studied 
the  principles  of  Jefferson,  of  Jackson,  and  love  the 
faith  in  which  we  believe :  and  during  all  this  time  he 
has  occupied  positions  comparatively  as  a  private  citizen, 
yet  always  true  and  always  faithful  to  Democratic  prin- 
ciple; and,  gentlemen  of  the  Convention,  the  only  ob- 
ject of  our  meeting  here  is  to  deal  with  the  question  so 
that,  when  we  have  gone  to  our  homes,  the  people,  who 
are  the  voters  of  the  country,  will  ratify  the  nomination 
which  we  shall  make.  No  man  has  greater  respect  or 
admiration  for  the  honored  names  which  have  been  pre- 
sented to  this  Convention  than  myself;  but,  gentlemen, 
the  world  is  moving,  and  moving  rapidly.  From  the 
North  to  the  South,  new  men,  men  who  have  acted  but 
little  in  politics,  are  coming  to  the  front,  and  to-day  there 
are  hundreds  and  thousands  of  young  men  in  this  coun- 
try, men  who  are  to  cast  their  first  vote,  men  who  are  in- 
dependent in  politics,  and  they  are  looking  to  this  Con- 
vention, praying  silently  that  there  shall  be  no  mistake 
made  here.  They  want  to  drive  the  Republican  Party 
from  power.  They  want  to  cast  their  vote  for  a  Demo- 
crat in  whom  they  believe.  Those  people  know  from 


CLEVELAND   IN  THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION".         113 

the  record  of  the  gentleman  whose  name  I  shall  present 
that  Democracy  with  him  means  honest  government, 
pure  government,  and  protection  of  the  rights  of  the 
people  of  every  class  and  every  condition. 

"  A  little  more  than  three  years  ago  I  had  the  honor 
at  the  city  of  Buffalo  to  present  the  name  of  this  same 
gentleman  for  the  office  of  Mayor  of  that  city.  It  was 
presented  then  for  the  same  reason,  for  the  causes  that 
we  present  it  now.  It  was  because  the  government  of 
that  city  had  become  corrupt  and  had  become  debauched, 
and  political  integrity  sat  not  in  high  places.  The 
people  looked  for  a  man  who  would  represent  the  con- 
trary, and  without  any  hesitation  they  named  Grover 
Cleveland  as  the  man. 

"The  result  of  that  election,  and  his  holding  that 
office,  was  that  in  less  than  nine  months  the  State  of 
New  York  found  herself  in  a  position  to  want  just  such 
a  candidate  and  for  such  a  purpose  ;  and  when  at  the 
Convention  in  1882  his  name  was  placed  in  nomination 
for  the  office  of  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
the  same  people,  the  same  class  of  people,  knew  that 
that  meant  an  honest  government;  it  meant  pure 
government;  it  meant  democratic  government:  and  it 
was  ratified  by  the  people.  And,  gentlemen,  now,  after 
eighteen  months'  service  there,  the  Democracy  of  the 
State  of  New  York  come  to  you  and  ask  you  to  give  to 
the  country,  to  give  to  the  independent  and  Democratic 


114         CLEVELAND   IN   THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION. 

voters  of  the  country,  to  give  to  the  young  men  of  the 
country,  the  new  blood  of  the  country,  the  name  of 
Grover  Cleveland  as  its  standard-bearer  for  the  next 
four  years. 

"  I  shall  indulge  in  no  eulogy  of  Mr.  Cleveland.  I 
shall  not  attempt  any  further  description  of  his  political 
career.  It  is  known.  His  Democracy  is  known.  His 
statesmanship  is  known  through  the  length  and  breadth 
of  this  land.  All  I  ask  of  this  Convention  is,  let  no 
passion,  no  prejudice,  influence  their  duty  which  they 
owe  to  the  people  of  this  country.  Be  not  deceived. 
Grover  Cleveland  can  give  the  Democratic  Party  the 
thirty-six  electoral  votes  of  the  State  of  New  York  on 
election-day.  He  can,  by  his  purity  of  character,  by  his 
purity  of  administration,  by  his  fearless  and  undaunted 
courage  to  do  right,  bring  to  you  more  votes  than 
anybody  else.  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention,  but  one 
word  more.  Mr.  Cleveland's  candidacy  before  this  Con- 
vention is  offered  upon  the  ground  of  his  honor,  his 
integrity,  his  wisdom,  and  his  Democracy.  Upon  that 
ground  we  ask  it,  believing  that,  if  ratified  by  this  Con- 
vention, he  can  be  elected  and  take  his  seat  at  "Washing- 
ton as  a  Democratic  President  of  the  United  States." 

THE   NOMINATION    SECONDED. 

Mr.  Frederick  Winston  arose,  when  Mr.  Lockwood 
had  finished  his  speech,  and  said :  "  The  State  of  Illinois 


CLEVELAND   IN"  THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION".          115 

a^ain  asks  the  indulgence  of   the  Convention  that  the 

o  ~ 

nomination  of  Grover  Cleveland  may  be  seconded  by 
Carter  Harrison,  of  Chicago." 

The  State  of  Illinois  had  been  called  and  passed,  but, 
no  objection  being  made,  Mayor  Harrison  was  escorted 
to  the  platform ;  and  as  he  went  an  enthusiastic  delegate 
arose  and  proposed  three  cheers  for  the  next  Governor 
of  Illinois,  Carter  H.  Harrison,  which  were  given  with  a 
will.  Chairman  Yilas  then  said  :  "  I  need  hardly  name 
to  this  Convention  the  next  Governor  of  Illinois." 

Mr.  Harrison  spoke  as  follows  : 

"Me.  CHAIRMAN  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVEN- 
TION: I  was  asked  a  little  while  ago  to  second  this 
nomination,  because  the  distinguished  gentleman  who 
was  to  have  done  so  is  absent  by  reason  of  indisposition. 
I  will  detain  you  but  a  few  moments  to  give  you  the 
reasons  why  I  think  Illinois  wants  Grover  Cleveland 
for  its  candidate. 

"  Gentlemen,  in  1876  was  that  terrible  crime  so 
graphically  described  by  your  temporary  chairman  com- 
mitted. He  told  you,  in  language  with  which  I  cannot 
compare,  that  that  crime  is  yet  to  be  avenged,  and  that 
until  the  Democracy  had  won  a  Presidency  it  would  not 
be  wiped  from  the  page  of  American  history.  He  told 
you  that  that  crime  was  next  to  judicial  murder — 
murder  committed  by  the  Republican  Party.  Remem- 
ber Holy  Writ  says,  '  Whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by 


116         CLEVELAND   IN  THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION. 

man's  hand  shall  his  blood  be  shed.'  The  Democracy 
must  destroy  the  Republican  Party  this  fall  or  the  crime 
goes  four  years  longer  unavenged.  Eight  weeks  ago  we 
had  coining  from  all  over  this  land  a  name  that  we  know 
would  wipe  out  the  crime.  From  the  North  and  from 
the  South,  from  the  East  and  "West,  came  one  name,  and 
that  name  was  Samuel  J.  Tilden. 

"Samuel  J.  Tilden  we  expected  to  be  presented  at 
this  Convention,  and  we  had  expected  no  nomination 
and  no  ballot.  It  would  have  been  done  by  acchmui- 
tion.  And  it  would  have  been  followed  by  another 
name — one  who,  even  yet,  if  we  cannot  agree,  may  be 
mentioned  here.  But,  with  true  chivalry,  true  to  his 
friend  whom  he  has  nominated  to-day,  Tom  Ilendricks 
refuses  to  have  his  name  mentioned  here. 

"Now,  gentlemen,  how  is  the  crime  committed  in 
1876  to  be  avenged?  The  cry  came  eight  years  ago 
for  Tilden  and  reform.  That  cry  is  echoed  here : 
'  Cleveland  and  reform.'  No  man  asked  the  nomina- 
tion of  Mr.  Cleveland  because  of  his  magnetism ;  he 
neither  attracts  the  people,  nor  do  corporations  attract 
him. 

"The  magnetic  man  is  on  the  other  side.  "We  want 
the  man  whose  name  will  be  the  synonym  of  honesty 
and  reform.  We  believe  in  Illinois  that  the  mantle  of 
Governor  Tilden  has  fallen,  and  rightly  falls  and  rests 
gracefully,  upon  the  shoulders  of  Grover  Cleveland. 


CLEVELAND   IN  THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION.          117 

"We  believe  in  the  closing  words  of  that  great  letter 
from  our  grand  leader,  whose  brain  is  yet  as  clear  as  a 
bell,  though  Almighty  God  has  permitted  his  hand  to 
be  palsied  and  his  voice  to  be  almost  still.  We  believe 
in  that  utterance  of  his,  that  the  cry  of  the  Democratic 
party  this  fall  must  and  shall  be  'Reform.'  And  we 
have  no  doubt  that  Mr.  Cleveland  will  give  us  reform. 
Gentlemen,  we  are  here  to  deliberate.  I  do  not  want 
to  nominate  Mr.  Cleveland  if  we  cannot  elect  him. 
They  tell  us  we  cannot.  Factional  fight  comes-  and 
says  he  has  enemies.  Where  does  the  fight  come  from  ? 
They  say  that  a  great  Church  will  oppose  him  on  relig- 
ious grounds.  I  know  that  Church  never  lets  its  minis- 

O 

ters'  voices  be  heard  in  the  pulpit  preaching  politics. 
And  the  cry  that  that  Church  will  not  permit  Mr.  Cleve- 
land to  be  elected  is  a  slander  upon  a  Church  that  has 
in  his  employ  some  of  its  most  noble  standard-bearers. 
They  say  that  the  Irish  will  cut  his  throat — they  will 
knife  him.  Did  you  ever  know  the  Irish  to  knife  the 
Democratic  Party  except  for  good  reasons  ?  The  Irish 
believe  in  the  Democratic  Party  because  the  Democratic 
Party  is  true  to  every  oppressed  people  and  to  every 
Irishman. 

"They  say  Mr.  Cleveland  did  not  pardon  somebody, 
and  therefore  the  Irish  will  knife  Mr.  Cleveland.  Who 
Will  they  knife  him  for  ?  For  Elaine  ?  Aye !  Do  you 
think  that  the  Irishmen  will  forget  McSweenie,  lying 


118         CLEVELAND   IN  THE  CHICAGO   CONVENTION. 

in  a  foreign  dungeon  ?— McS\veenie,  whose  wife  had 
almost  shed  tears  of  blood  before  James  Gr.  Elaine,  and 
he  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  her  supplications?  The  Irish 
will  not  desert  Cleveland,  because  the  Irish  believe  in 
the  Democratic  Party,  and  the  Democratic  Party  is 
right.  If  we  nominate  Mr.  Cleveland  we  will  be  right, 
and  the  Irish  will  stand  by  us.  They  tell  us  that  the 
workingmen  will  desert  Mr.  Cleveland.  My  friends, 
who  are  the  friends  of  the  workingmen  ?  It  is  the 
Democratic  Party — the  party  of  the  people,  true  to  the 
workingmen,  founded  on  the  workingmen  —  a  party 
founded  and  built  upon  the  workingmen  as  upon  a 
rock  which  will  endure  forever. 

"  They  tell  us  that  Cleveland  vetoed  some  bills  hostile 
to  the  workingmen.  Has  there  been  a  whisper  that  those 
vetoes  or  that  veto  was  brought  about  for  corrupt  pur- 
poses? Not  one.  It  is  an  insult  to  the  workingman  to 
say  he  is  going  to  be  caught  by  a  catch-word  or  carried 
away  by  idle  denunciation.  My  friends,  there  is  another 
great  party  in  this  country.  There  is  a  nationality,  and 
those  who  sprung  from  it  believe  in  honesty.  I  speak 
now  of  the  Germanic  people  of  the  United  States.  All 
they  demand  in  an  officer  in  this  government  is  honesty 
of  purpose  and  honesty  in  practice.  Give  us  Governor 
Cleveland  and  I  believe  that  ninety  per  cent  of  the  Ger- 
man-speaking Republicans  of  the  past  will  be  found  side 
by  side  with  the  Democrats  this  fall  in  electing  him.  On 


CLEVELAND   IN  THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION.          119 

this  account,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  ask  that  this  Convention 
will  nominate  Grover  Cleveland,  because  I  believe  he 
will  help  us  to  win  Illinois  next  November." 

ME.    JONES,  OF   MINNESOTA,  SPEAKS. 


Richard  A.  Jones,  of  Minnesota,  having  obtained  the 
floor  in  a  competition  with  several  other  delegates,  said : 

"  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVENTION  :  Minnesota,  coming 
here  from  the  far  North  and  what  was  but  recently  the 
far  West,  desires  to  add  her  modest  voice  in  seconding 
the  nomination  of  the  Governor  of  New  York  for  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  We  came  here  elected  to 
support  a  more  distinguished  name  from  that  great  State, 
together  with  the  eloquent  gentleman  who  presented  a 
candidate  from  Indiana  ;  but  being  denied  that  privilege, 
we  wish  to  urge  upon  you  deliberation  and  care  in  select- 
ing the  candidate  who  may  be  elected  in  November,  and 
we  believe  that  that  man  is  Grover  Cleveland,  of  New 
York. 

"We  have  nothing  to  say  against,  but  everything  in 
favor  of,  that  distinguished  Senator  coming  from  the 
State  of  Delaware,  whose  own  great  name  enlarges  the 
boundaries  of  his  State.  We  look  with  pride  to  that  still 
great  name,  once  £o  eloquent  in  the  councils  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  Senate,  coming  from  Ohio,  who  stands  like 
some  tall  cliff  with  his  noble  form,  undismayed,  though 


120         CLEVELAND  IN  THE   CHICAGO   CONTENTION. 

defeated  in  his  own  State.  Dear  to  all  of  us  is  the  bright 
and  great  son  of  Ohio ;  but,  gentlemen,  we  want  to  suc- 
ceed this  next  November.  We  want  you  to  give  us  such 
a  name  that  even  in  Minnesota,  where  we  cannot  give 
you  an  electoral  vote,  we  may  advance  the  banner  of  De- 
mocracy until  it  shall  be  a  beacon  like  the  motto  on  our 
State  escutcheon,  *  The  North  Star,  unmoved,  always 
Democratic,'  and  march  with  you  in  future  to  victory. 
Then,  if  you  will  place  on  the  banner  of  the  Democracy 
this  fall  the  great  name  of  New  York,  and  cry  '  Excelsior,' 
we  too  will  take  up  the  shout  that  shall  echo  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  until  we  have  achieved  the  vic- 
tory that  is  already  thundering  in  the  air.  Gentlemen 
of  the  Convention,  I  have  no  other  words  to  say  to  you 
than  this :  In  the  Republican  States  like  the  State  of  Min- 
nesota we  wish  to  add  new  names  to  the  Democratic 
poll.  "We  wish  to  increase  our  numbers.  Then  we  call 
upon  you  to  give  us  the  name  of  Grover  Cleveland,  for 
whom  every  Democrat  shouts.  You  have  been  detained 
too  long  already,  and  I,  therefore,  simply  leave  the  stand, 
thanking  you  for  your  attention." 

MR.  GRADY'S  HARANGUE. 

Mr.  Grady,  of  New  York,  was  known  to  entertain  very 
bitter  personal  feelings  toward  Governor  Cleveland,  anc 
as  soon  as  he  could  obtain  the  floor  he  delivered  a  lengthj 


CLEVELAND   IN  THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION.          121 

harangue,  which  was  received  with  close  attention  be- 
cause of  its  forcible  delivery,  but  it  evidently  failed  to 
carry  conviction.  Mr.  Cochran,  another  New  York  dele- 
gate, seconded  the  nomination  of  another  candidate  in  a 
speech  in  which  he  also  attempted  to  injure  Cleveland. 

When  Colonel  Cochran  had  finished,  the  boyish  figure 
of  Mr.  E.  K.  Apgar,  of  New  York,  appeared  upon  the 
platform,  and  he  was  heard  making  the  closing  speech 
for  Cleveland.  He  recalled  the  fact  that  the  New  York 
delegation  stood  61  to  11  in  favor  of  presenting  Cleve- 
land's name,  and,  after  a  terse  and  comprehensive  enu- 
meration of  the  reasons  for  Cleveland's  candidacy,  he 
answered  the  Cochran  story  of  the  New  York  votes  in 
1876  by  saying  that  although  Kelly  had  declared  in  the 
National  Convention  that  Tilden  could  not  carry  the 
State,  he  had  been  powerless  to  prevent  the  Democrats 
of  New  York  City  from  giving  him  a  majority  of  55,000. 
As  Tilden  was  the  man  for  the  occasion  in  18Y6,  so 
Cleveland  was  the  man  now;  and  with  him  as  the  candi- 
date, the  Democrats  could  surely  win. 

GENERAL  BRAGG'S  FAMOUS  SPEECH. 

Soon  after  Mr.  Apgar  ceased  to  speak,  the  Convention 
adjourned  until  Thursday,  and  on  that  day  General 
Bragg,  of  Wisconsin,  delivered  the  famous  speech  in 
which  he  said  the  friends  of  Cleveland  "  love  him  most 
for  the  enemies  he  has  made." 


122         CLEVELAND  IN  THE   CHICAGO  CONVENTION 

When  Wisconsin  was  called,  Mr.  Delaney,  of  "that 
State,  said  : 

"  MB.  CHAIRMAN  :  In  accordance  with  the  vote  taken 
in  the  Wisconsin  delegation,  the  majority  of  that  delega- 
tion desire  to  second  the  nomination  of  Governor  Cleve- 
land, and,  sir,  it  is  their  desire  to  be  heard  by  the  distin- 
guished chairman  of  the  delegation,  General  Bragg." 

While  General  Bragg  was  on  his  way  to  the  platform 
he  was  greeted  with  cheers,  in  the  midst  of  which  a  voice 
was  heard  shouting,  "A  little  more  grape,  Captain 
Bragg."  He  spoke  as  follows : 

"GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVENTION:  It  is  with  feelings 
of  no  ordinary  pride  that  I  fill  the  post  that  has  been  as- 
signed to  me  to-day.  Grim  and  gray,  personally,  fight- 
ing the  battles  of  the  Democratic  Party,  I  stand  to-day 
to  voice  the  sentiment  of  the  young  men  of  my  State 
when  I  speak  for  Grover  Cleveland,  of  New  York.  His 
name  is  upon  their  lips,  his  name  is  in  their  hearts,  and 
he  is  the  choice  not  only  of  that  band  of  young  men, 
but  he  is  the  choice  of  all  those  who  desire  for  the  first 
time,  as  young  men,  to  cast  their  votes  in  November  for 
the  candidate  nominated  by  this  Convention.  They  love 
him,  gentlemen,  and  respect  him,  not  only  for  himself, 
for  his  character,  for  his  integrity  and  judgment  and  iron 
will,  but  they  love  him  most  for  the  enemies  he  has 
made. 

"  I  thank  the  emissary  that  represents  a  respectable 


CLEVELAND,  IN  THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION.          123 

name  at  least  for  calling  himself  again  to  my  attention. 
This  broad  Nation  witnessed  the  disgraceful  spectacle  of 
a  Senator  of  the  United  States  trading  his  proud  posses- 
sion for  gain.  Mahone  and  Riddleberger  would  scarcely 
be  allowed  to  stand  upon  this  platform  to  teach  you  gen- 
tlemen Democracy  and  whom  you  ought  to  nominate. 
Go  to  the  Senate  of  the  State  of  New  York  since  Gov- 
ernor Cleveland  has  been  governor,  and  there  you  find 
two  worthy  confreres  playing  in  a  small  theatre  Mahone 
and  Riddleberger  over  again.  And  why  ?  Because  the 
Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York  had  more  nerve 
than  the  machine.  They  may  speak  of  him,  aye,  the 
worst  of  the  species  may  defile  a  splendid  statue,  but  they 
only  disgrace  themselves.  Wherever  the  thin  disguise 
can  be  reached,  you  will  find  it  covering  nothing  but 
personal  grievance,  disappointed  ambition,  or  a  cutting 
off  of  the  access  to  the  flesh  pots  to  those  who  desire  to 
fatten  on  them.  I  do  not  assume  here  to  speak  for  la- 
bor. The  child  of  a  man  who  always  earned  his  daily 
bread  by  his  steady  labor,  brought  up  for  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  from  boyhood  to  manhood  among 
laborers  that  have  made  the  great  Northwest  what  it  is,  I 
do  not  assume  to  speak  for  labor.  Labor  is  not  repre- 
sented in  political  conventions  by  the  political  trickster. 
No  matter  where  you  find  him,  the  men  who  follow  con- 
ventions and  talk  about  the  right  of  labor  are  the  Swiss 
contingent,  who  place  their  tent  wherever  the  prospect 


124         CLEVELAND   IN  THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION. 

of  profit  is  greatest,  while  honest,  intelligent,  horny. 
handed  labor  will  be  found  following  the  old  Democratic 
flag,  thanking  God  that  its  self-styled  leaders  have  gone 
where  they  belong.  They  come  here  to  talk  of  labor; 
yes,  their  labor  has  been  upon  the  crank  of  the  ma- 
chine, and  their  study  has  been  political  chicane  in  the 
midnight  conclave.  "We  are  told  the  Democratic  Parry 
is  suffering  from  fearful  political  disorders  by  these  men. 
If  we  are  to  judge  from  past  experience,  those  disorders, 
in  the  quarters  where  they  are  alleged  to  exist,  can  only 
be  cured  by  a  reapplication  of  Federal  soap.  I  have 
heard  it  said  that  the  States  of  the  Northwest  ought  to 
have  no  voice  in  this  nomination.  I  have  heard  it  paid, 
'  What  boots  it  what  their  opinion  may  be  ? '  What  was 
it  that  placed  the  great  States  of  the  Xorthvrest  in  the 
Republican  column?  It  was  because  they  followed 
blindly,  implicitly,  the  old  leaders,  and  they  led  the 
party  of  union  to  defeat,  and  they  placed  our  States  down 
under  thousands  and  thousands  of  Republican  majorities. 
We  have  fought  our  way  steadily  upward.  We  see 
through  the  water  which  has  been  so  deep  above  our 
heads  the  glimmering  again  of  sunlight,  and  we  ask 
to  breathe  once  more  the  air  of  victory.  Onr  young 
men  ask  it;  the  religious  sentiment  of  our  conntrv  asks  it ; 
the  intelligence  of  our  people  asks  it.  Onr  German  for- 
eign-born citizens  say  to  us,  'We  come  to  3-011  with 
Cleveland;  the  Old  Guard  will  fight  steadily  and  go 


CLEVELAND   IN  THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION.          125 

down  to  death,  shouting  gloriously  as  they  fall,  under  the 
lead  of  the  chivalric  Bayard.'  They  will  follow  steadily 
and  unflinchingly  that  sturdy  old  Democrat  from  Indi- 
ana, but  with  the  same  result,  they  fear.  They  will 
rally  around  that  glorious  old  Senator  from  Ohio,  and 
they  will  accept  that  judicial-minded  gentleman  from 
Kentucky.  But  pardon  me  for  saying  there  was  a  time 
when  the  2.40  steeds  stood  first  upon  the  list,  but  in 
these  days  something  that  has  made  2.40  ought  to  be  re- 
tired as  stale,  for  it  is  of  no  account  against  2.10J.  Let 
our  old  \var-horses  be  retired  with  honor.  Let  the  rec- 
ords of  their  achievements  be  established  and  pointed  at 
with  pride  and  pleasure.  But  our  people  say,  Give  us 
new  life,  give  us  new  blood,  give  us  something  that  has 
come  to  manhood  and  position  since  the  war,  that  we 
may  hear  no  more  about  what  took  place  at,  before,  and 
during  the  war.  Every  breeze  brings  to  us  what  would 
seem  to  be  indications  of  victory,  but  we  cannot  accom- 
plish victory  without  recruits.  Those  recruits  are  at  our 
bidding:  young,  middle-aged,  and  old,  you  see  them,  in 
platoons  and  regiments,  brigades  and  divisions.  Every 
one  of  them  bears  upon  its  banner  first,  '  Cleveland,  of 
New  York.'  Let  the  countersign  of  the  great  Demo- 
cratic camp  in  November  be  '  Cleveland,'  and  then  men 
can  make  their  way  to  it,  and,  recruited  as  we  shall  be, 
our  ides  of  November  will  not  be  a  Waterloo,  but  will 
be  a  glorious  sun  of  Austerlitz  and  "Wisconsin.  My  own 


126         CLEVELAND   IN  THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION. 

•  adopted  State,  I  say  to  you,  gives  us  every  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  she  will  find  herself  once  more  in  the  Demo- 
cratic column,  and  her  eleven  electoral  votes  will  be  ca.-t 
for  the  nominee  of  this  Convention.  For  that  reason, 
on  behalf  of  the  majority  representing  my  State,  I  sec- 
ond that  nomination." 

Governor  "Waller,  of  Connecticut,  made  one  of  the 
best  speeches  of  the  session,  and  produced  a  profound 
impression  by  his  appeals  to  "the  noble  Kelly"  and  his 
opponents  to  drop  the  tomahawk  and  combine  on  the 
best  candidate,  Grover  Cleveland. 

NOMINATED   ON   THE    SECOND   BALLOT. 

The  balloting  did  not  begin  until  the  evening  of 
Thursday,  the  third  day  of  the  Convention,  but  when 
reached  the  work  was  soon  finished.  The  whole  number 
of  votes  was  820,  the  same  as  in  the  Republican  Con- 
vention ;  but  while  a  majority  vote  was  sufficient  to  give 
Elaine  the  nomination,  the  Democrats  demand  that  their 
candidates  for  the  Presidency  shall  carry  their  conven- 
tion by  a  two-third  vote,  so  that  the  support  of  547  dele- 
gates was  necessary  to  nominate  Cleveland.  The  first 
ballot  gave  him  392  votes,  and  soon  after  the  Conven- 
tion adjourned  until  the  next  day. 

At  11.20  o'clock  on  Friday  morning  the  second  ballot 
began ;  and  when  Chairman  Yilas  announced  that  Gro- 


CLEVELAND   IN"  THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION.          127 

ver  Cleveland  had  been  chosen  as  the  standard-bearer  of 
the  Democrats  by  683  votes,  a  scene  which  beggars  de- 
scription was  witnessed  in  the  Convention,  and  the  thun- 
ders of  applause  soon  reverberated  throughout  the  whole 
country.  As  soon  as  it  was  possible  to  resume  regular 
proceedings  in  the  convention-hall,  the  nomination  was 
made  unanimous. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE  PLATFORM  AND  OFFICIAL  NOTIFI- 
CATION. 

The  Platform  adopted  by  the  Chicago  Convention  for  the  Cam- 
paign of  1884. — Lengthy  but  Vigorous. — Its  Criticism  of  Republican 
Administration.  —  Pledges  to  Purify  the  Government. — No  War- 
Taxes. — Honest  Money. — Restore  the  Merchant-Marine — The  Com- 
mittee appointed  at  Chicago  to  notify  Governor  Cleveland  Visit 
Albany. — The  Official  Notification  at  the  Executive  Mansion. — The 
Address  presented  by  the  Committee. — Governor  Cleveland's  Reply. 
—The  Reception  at  the  Fort  Orange  Club-IIouse. — Greeting  from 
Mr.  Tilden. 

The  platform  adopted  by  the  Democrats  at  Chicago  on 
July  lOst,  1884,  was  presented  for  the  Committee  on  Reso- 
lutions by  Colonel  R.  W.  Morrison,  the  grizzled  leader  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  and  the  head  of  the  tariff- 
reform  party  in  Congress.  It  was  as  follows  : 

"  The  Democratic  Party  of  the  Union,  through  its  rep- 
resentatives in  national  convention  assembled,  recognizes 
that,  as  the  Nation  grows  older,  new  issues  are  born  of 
time  and  progress,  and  old  issues  perish.  But  the  f  unda- 


THE   PLATFORM   AND   OFFICIAL   NOTIFICATION",       129 

mental  principles  of  the  Democracy,  approved  by  the 
united  voice  of  the  people,  remain  and  will  ever  remain 
as  the  best  and  only  security  for  the  continuance  of  free 
government.  The  preservation  of  personal  rights ;  the 
equality  of  all  citizens  before  the  law;  the  reserved 
rights  of  the  States,  and  the  supremacy  of  the  Federal 
Government  within  the  limits  of  the  Constitution,  will 
ever  form  the  true  basis  of  our  liberties,  and  can  never 
be  surrendered  without  destroying  that  balance  of  righta 
and  powers  which  enables  a  continent  to  be  developed  in. 
peace,  and  social  order  to  be  maintained  by  means  of  lo- 
cal self-government.  But  it  is  indispensable  for  the  prac- 
tical application  and  enforcement  of  these  fundamental 
principles  that  the  Government  should  not  always  be 
controlled  by  one  political  party.  Frequent  change  of 
administration  is  as  necessary  as  constant  recurrence  to 
the  popular  will.  Otherwise,  abuses  grow,  and  the  Gov- 
ernment, instead  of  being  carried  on  for  the  general  wel- 
fare, becomes  an  instrumentality  for  imposing  heavy  bur- 
dens on  the  many  who  are  governed,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  few  who  govern.  Public  servants  thus  become  ar- 
bitrary rulers.  This  is  now  the  condition  of  the  coun- 
try ;  hence  a  change  is  demanded. 

"The  Republican  Party,  so  far  as  principle  is  con- 
cerned, is  a  reminiscence.  In  practice  it  is  an  organiza- 
tion for  enriching  those  who  control  its  machinery.  The 

frauds  and  jobbery  which  have  been  brought  to  light  in 
6* 


130      THE   PLATFOKM   AND   OFFICIAL   NOTIFICATION. 

every  department  of  the  Government  are  sufficient  to 
have  called  for  reform  within  the  Republican  Parry,  yet 
those  in  authority,  made  reckless  by  the  long  possession 
of  power,  have  succumbed  to  its  corrupting  influence 
and  have  placed  in  nomination  a  ticket  against  which  the 
independent  portion  of  the  party  are  in  open  revolt. 
Therefore  change  is  demanded.  Such  a  change  was 
alike  necessary  in  1876,  but  the  will  of  the  people  was 
then  defeated  bv  a  fraud  which  can  never  be  forgotten 

v  O 

nor  condoned.  Again,  in  1880  the  change  demanded  by 
the  people  was  defeated  by  the  lavish  use  of  money  con- 
tributed by  unscrupulous  contractors  and  shameless  job- 
bers, who  had  bargained  for  unlawful  profits  or  high 
office.  The  Republican  Party,  during  its  legal,  its  stolen, 
and  its  bought  tenures  of  power,  has  steadily  decayed 
in  moral  character  and  political  capacity.  Its  plat- 
form promises  are  now  a  list  of  its  past  failures.  It  de- 
mands the  restoration  of  our  navy  :  it  has  squandered 
hundreds  of  millions  to  create  a  navy  that  does  not  exist. 
It  calls  upon  Congress  to  remove  the  burdens  under 
which  American  shipping  has  been  depressed :  it  im- 
posed and  has  continued  those  burdens.  It  professes  the 
policy  of  reserving  the  public  lands  for  small  holdings 
by  actual  settlers :  it  has  given  away  the  people's  heri- 
tage until  now  a  few  railroads  and  non-resident  aliens, 
individual  and  corporate,  possess  a  larger  area  than  that 
of  all  our  farms  between  the  two  seas.  It  professes  a 


THE   PLATFORM  AND  OFFICIAL  NOTIFICATION.        131 

preference  for  free  institutions :  it  organized  and  tried 
to  legalize  a  control  of  State  elections  by  Federal  troops. 
It  professes  a  desire  to  elevate  labor  :  it  has  subjected 
American  workman  to  the  competition  of  convict  and 
imported  contract  labor.  It  professes  gratitude  to  all 
who  were  disabled  or  died  in  the  war,  leaving  widows 
and  orphans  :  it  Tef  t  to  a  Democratic  House  of  Represen- 
tatives the  first  effort  to  equalize  both  bounties  and  pen- 
sions. It  proffers  a  pledge  to  correct  the  irregularities 
of  our  tariff :  it  created  and  has  continued  them.  Its 
own  tariff  commission  confessed  the  need  of  more  than 
twenty  per  cent  reduction  :  its  Congress  gave  a  reduc- 
tion of  less  than  four  per  cent.  It  professes  the  protec- 
tion of  American  manufactures :  it  has  subjected  them 
to  an  increasing  flood  of  manufactured  goods  and  a  hope- 
less competition  with  manufacturing  nations,  not  one  of 
which  taxes  raw  materials.  It  professes  to  protect  all 
American  industries :  it  has  impoverished  many  to  sub- 
sidize a  few.  It  professes  the  protection  of  American 
labor :  it  has  depleted  the  returns  of  American  agricul- 
ture, an  industry  followed  by  half  our  people.  It  pro- 
fesses the  equality  of  all  men  before  the  law,  attempting 
to  fix  the  status  of  colored  citizens  :  the  acts  of  its  Con- 
gress were  overset  by  the  decisions  of  its  courts.  It 
'  accepts  anew  the  duty  of  leading  in  the  work  of  pro- 
gress and  reform '  :  its  caught  criminals  are  permitted 
to  escape  through  contrived  delays  or  actual  connivance  in 


132      THE  PLATFORM  AND   OFFICIAL  NOTIFICATION'. 

the  prosecution.  Honeycombed  with  corruption,  outbreak- 
ing exposures  no  longer  shock  its  moral  sense.  Its  honest 
members,  its  independent  journals,  no  longer  maintain  a 
successful  contest  for  authority  in  its  councils  or  a  veto 
upon  bad  nominations.  That  change  is  necessary  is 
proved  by  an  existing  surplus  of  more  than  $100,000,000, 
which  has  yearly  been  collected  from  a  suffering  people. 
Unnecessary  taxation  is  unjust  taxation.  We  denounce 
the  Republican  Party  for  having  failed  to  relieve  the 
people  from  crushing  -war-taxes,  which  have  paralyzed 
business,  crippled  industry,  and  deprived  labor  of  em- 
ployment and  of  just  reward. 

"The  Democracy  pledges  itself  to  purify  the  Admin- 
istration from  corruption,  to  restore  economy,  to  revive 
respect  for  law,  and  to  reduce  taxation  to  the  lowest 
limit  consistent  with  due  regard  to  the  preservation  of 
the  faith  of  the  Nation  to  its  creditors  and  pensioners. 
Knowing  full  well,  however,  that  legislation  affecting  the 
operations  of  the  people  should  be  cautious  and  conser- 
vative in  method,  not  in  advance  of  public  opinion,  but 
responsive  to  its  demands,  the  Democratic  Party  is 
pledged  to  revise  the  tariff  in  a  spirit  of  fairness  to  all 
interests.  But,  in  making  reduction  in  taxes,  it  is  not 
proposed  to  injure  any  domestic  industries,  but  rather  to 
promote  their  healthy  growth.  From  the  foundation  of 
this  Government  taxes  collected  at  the  custom-house 
have  been  the  chief  source  of  Federal  revenue.  Such 


THE   PLATFORM   AND   OFFICIAL  NOTIFICATION".       133 

they  must  continue  to  be.  Moreover,  many  industries 
have  come  to  rely  upon  legislation  for  successful  continu- 
ance, so  that  any  change  of  law  must  be  at  every  step 
regardful  of  the  labor  and  capital  thus  involved.  The 
process  of  the  reform  must  be  subject  in  the  execution 
to  this  plain  dictate  of  justice.  All  taxation  shall  be 
limited  to  the  requirements  of  economical  government. 
The  necessary  reduction  in  taxation  can  and  must  be 
effected  without  depriving  American  labor  of  the  ability 
to  compete  successfully  with  foreign  labor,  and  without 
imposing  lower  rates  of  duty  than  will  be  ample  to  cover 
any  increased  cost  of  production  which  may  exist  in 
consequence  of  the  higher  rate  of  wages  prevailing  in 
this  country.  Sufficient  revenue  to  pay  all  the  expenses 
of  the  Federal  Government  economically  administered, 
including  pensions,  interest,  and  principal  of  the  public 
debt,  can  be  got  under  our  present  system  of  taxation 
from  custom-house  taxes  on  fewer  imported  articles, 
bearing  heaviest  on  articles  of  luxury  and  bearing  light- 
est on  articles  of  necessity.  We  therefore  denounce  the 
abuses  of  the  existing  tariff ;  and,  subject  to  the  preceding 
limitations,  we  demand  that  Federal  taxation  shall  be  ex- 
clusively for  public  purposes,  and  shall  not  exceed  the 
needs  of  the  Government  economically  administered. 

"  The  system  of  direct  taxation  known  as  the  '  internal 
revenue '  is  a  war-tax,  and  so  long  as  the  law  continues 
the  money  derived  therefrom  should  be  sacredly  devoted 


134      THE  PLATFORM  AND   OFFICIAL  NOTIFICATION". 

to  the  relief  of  the  people  from  the  remaining  burdens  of 
the  war,  and  be  made  a  fund  to  defray  the  expense  of 
the  care  and  comfort  of  worthy  soldiers  disabled  in  line 
of  duty  in  the  wars  of  the  Republic,  and  for  the  payment 
of  such  pensions  as  Congress  may  from  time  to  time 
grant  to  such  soldiers,  a  like  fund  for  the  sailors  having 
been  already  provided,  and  any  surplus  should  be  paid 
into  the  Treasury. 

"We  favor  an  American  continental  policy  based  upon 
more  intimate  commercial  and  political  relations  with  the 
fifteen  sister-republics  of  North,  Central,  and  South 
America,  but  entangling  alliances  with  none. 

"We  believe  in  honest  money,  the  gold  and  silver 
coinage  of  the  Constitution,  and  a  circulating  medium 
convertible  into  such  money  without  loss. 

"Asserting  the  equality  of  ali  men  before  the  law, 
we  hold  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Government  in  its 
dealings  with  the  people  to  mete  out  equal  and  exact 
justice  to  all  citizens  of  whatever  nativity,  race,  color, 
or  persuasion,  religious  or  political. 

"We  believe  in  a  free  ballot  and  a  fair  count,  and 
we  recall  to  the  memory  of  the  people  the  noble  strug- 
gle of  the  Democrats  in  the  Forty-fifth  and  Forty-sixth 
Congresses,  by  which  a  reluctant  Republican  opposition 
was  compelled  to  assent  to  legislation  making  every- 
where illegal  the  presence  of  troops  at  the  polls  as  the 


THE   PLATFORM   AND   OFFICIAL  NOTIFICATION".       135 

conclusive  proof  that  a  Democratic  Administration  will 
preserve  liberty  with  order. 

"  The  selection  of  Federal  officers  for  the  Territories 
should  be  restricted  to  citizens  previously  resident 
therein. 

"We  oppose  sumptuary  laws  which  vex  the  citizen 
and  interfere  with  individual  liberty. 

"  We  favor  honest  civil-service  reform  and-  the  com- 
pensation of  all  United  States  officers  by  fixed  salaries ; 
the  separation  of  Church  and  State  and  the  diffusion  of 
free  education  by  common  schools,  so  that  every  child 
in  the  land  may  be  taught  the  rights  and  duties  of 
citizenship. 

"While  we  favor  all  legislation  which  will   tend  to 

o 

the  equitable  distribution  of  property,  to  the  prevention 
of  monopoly,  and  to  the  strict  enforcement  of  individual 
rights  against  corporate  abuses,  we  hold  that  the  welfare 
of  society  depends  upon  a  scrupulous  regard  for  the 
rights  of  property  as  defined  by  law.  We  believe  that 
labor  is  best  rewarded  where  it  is  freest  and  most  en- 
lightened. It  should  therefore  be  fostered  and  cher- 
ished. We  favor  the  repeal  of  all  laws  restricting  the 
free  action  of  labor  and  the  enactment  of  laws  by  which 
labor  organizations  may  be  incorporated,  and  of  all  such 
legislation  as  will  tend  to  enlighten  the  people  as  to  the 
true  relations  of  capital  and  labor. 

"We  believe  that  the  public  land  ought,  as  far  as 


136      THE   PLATFORM    AND   OFFICIAL  NOTIFICATION. 

possible,  to  be  kept  as  homesteads  for  actual  settlers; 
that  all  unearned  lands  heretofore  improvidently  granted 
to  railroad  corporations  by  the  action  of  the  Republican 
Party  should  be  restored  to  the  public  domain,  and  that 
no  more  grants  of  land  shall  be  made  to  corporations  or 
be  allowed  to  fall  into  the  ownership  of  alien  absentees. 

"We  are  opposed  to  all  propositions  which,  upon  any 
pretext,  would  convert  the  General  Government  into  a 
machine  for  collecting  taxes  to  be  distributed  among  the 
States  or  the  citizens  thereof. 

"  In   reaffirming  the    declaration   of   the   Democratic 

o 

platform  of  1856  that  the  liberal  principles  embodied 
by  Jefferson  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and 
sanctioned  in  the  Constitution,  which  make  ours  the 
land  of  liberty  and  the  asylum  of  the  oppressed  of  every 
nation,  have  ever  been  cardinal  principles  in  the  Demo- 
cratic faith,  we  nevertheless 'do  not  sanction  the  impor- 
tation of  foreign  labor  or  the  admission  of  servile  races, 
unfitted  by  habits,  training,  religion,  or  kindred,  for 
absorption  into  the  great  body  of  our  people,  or  for  the 
citizenship  which  our  laws  confer.  American  civiliza- 
tion demands  that  against  the  immigration  or  importa- 
tion of  Mongolians  to  these  shores  our  gates  be  closed. 

"The  Democratic  Party  insists  that  it  is  the  duty  of 
this  Government  to  protect  with  equal  fidelity  and  vigi- 
lance the  rights  of  its  citizens,  native  and  naturalized,  at 
home  and  abroad  ;  and  to  the  end  that  this  protection 


THE   PLATFORM   AND   OFFICIAL   NOTIFICATION".       137 

may  be  assured,  United  States  papers  of  naturalization 
issued  by  courts  of  competent  jurisdiction  must  be  re- 
spected by  the  Executive  and  Legislative  Departments 
of  our  own  Government  and  by  all  foreign  powers.  It 
is  an  imperative  duty  of  this  Government  to  efficiently 
protect  all  the  rights  of  persons  and  property  of  every 
American  citizen  in  foreign  lands,  and  demand  and  en, 
force  full  reparation  for  any  invasion  thereof.  An 
American  citizen  is  only  responsible  to  his  own  Gov- 
ernment for  any  act  done  in  his  own  country  or  undef 
her  flag,  and  can  only  be  tried  therefor  on  her  own  soil 
and  according  to  her  Jaws ;  and  no  power  exists  in  this 
Government  to  expatriate  an  American  citizen  to  be 
tried  in  any  foreign  land  for  any  such  act. 

"  This  country  has  never  had  a  well  defined  and  exe- 
cuted foreign  policy  save  under  Democratic  adminis- 
tration. That  policy  has  ever  been  in  regard  to  foreign 
nations,  so  long  as  they  do  no  act  detrimental  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  country  or  hurtful  to  our  citizens,  to  let 
them  alone ;  that  as  a  result  of  this  policy  we  recall  the 
acquisition  of  Louisiana,  Florida,  California,  and  of  the 
adjacent  Mexican  territory  by  purchase  alone,  and  con- 
trast these  grand  acquisitions  of  Democratic  statesman- 
ship with  the  purchase  of  Alaska,  the  sole  fruit  of  a 
Republican  administration  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury. 

"  The  Federal   Government  should  care  for  and  im- 


138      THE   PLATFORM   AND   OFFICIAL   NOTIFICATION. 

prove  the  Mississippi  River  and  other  great  waterways 
of  the  Republic,  so  as  to  secure  for  the  interior  States 
easy  and  cheap  transportation  to  tide-water. 

"Under  a  long  period  of  Democratic  rule  and  policy 
our  merchant-marine  was  fast  overtaking  and  on  the 
point  of  outstripping  that  of  Great  Britain  ;  under  twenty 
years  of  Republican  rule  and  policy  our  commerce  has 
been  left  to  British  bottoms  and  the  American  flag  lias 
almost  been  swept  off  the  high  seas.  Instead  of  the  Re- 
publican Party's  British  policy,  we  demand  for  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States  an  American  policy.  Under 
Democratic  rule  and  policy  our  merchants  and  sailors, 
flying  the  stars  and  stripes  in  every  port,  successfully 
searched  out  a  market  for  the  varied  products  of  Ameri- 
can industry:  under  a  quarter-century  of  Republican 
rule  and  policy,  despite  our  manifest  advantage  over  all 
other  nations  in  high-paid  labor,  favorable  climates,  and 
teeming  soils;  despite  freedom  of  trade  among  all  these 
United  States;  despite  their  population  by  the  foremost 
races  of  men  and  an  annual  immigration  of  the  young, 
thrifty,  and  adventurous  of  all  nations ;  despite  our  free- 
dom here  from  the  inherited  burdens  of  life  and  indus- 
try in  Old  World  monarchies,  their  costly  war-navies, 
their  vast  tax-consuming,  non-producing  standing  armies  ; 
despite  twenty  years  of  peace,  that  Republican  rule  and 
policy  have  managed  to  surrender  to  Great  Britain, 
along  with  our  commerce,  the  control  of  the  markets 


THE    PLATFORM   AND    OFFICIAL   NOTIFICATION".        139 

of  the  world.  Instead  of  the  Republican  Party's  Brit- 
ish policy,  we  demand,  in  behalf  of  the  American  Demo- 
cracy, an  American  policy.  Instead  of  the  Republican 
Party's  discredited  scheme  and  false  pretence  of  friend- 
ship for  American  labor,  expressed  by  imposing  taxes, 
we  demand,  in  behalf  of  the  Democracy,  freedom  for 
American  labor  by  reducing  taxes,  to  the  end  that  these 
United  States  may  compete  with  unhindered  powers  for 
the  primacy  among  nations  in  all  the  arts  of  peace  and 
fruits  of  liberty. 

"  With  profound  regret  we  have  been  apprised  by  the 
venerable  statesman  through  whose  person  was  struck 
that  blow  at  the  vital  principle  of  republics,  acquiescence 
in  the  will  of  the  majority,  that  he  cannot  permit  us 
again  to  place  in  his  hands  the  leadership  of  the  Demo- 
cratic hosts,  for  the  reason  that  the  achievement  of  re- 
form in  the  administration  of  the  Federal  Government 
is  an  undertaking  now  too  heavy  for  his  age  and  failing 
strength.  Rejoicing  that  his  life  has  been  prolonged  until 
the  general  judgment  of  our  fellow-countrymen  is  united 
in  the  wish  that  that  wrong  were  righted  in  his  person, 
for  the  Democracy  of  the  United  States  we  offer  to  him, 
in  his  withdrawal  from  public  cares,  not  only  our  re- 
spectful sympathy  and  esteem,  but  also  that  best  hom- 
age of  freemen,  the  pledge  of  our  devotion  to  the  prin- 
ciples and  the  cause  now  inseparable  in  the  history  of 
this  Republic  from  the  labors  and  the  name  of  Samuel 
J.  Tilden. 


140       THE    PLATFORM    AND   OFFICIAL   NOTIFICATION. 

"With  this  statement  of  the  hopes,  principles,  and 
purposes  of  the  Democratic  Party,  the  great  issue  of 
reform  and  change  in  administration  is  submitted  to 

O 

the  people  in  calm  confidence  that  the  popular  voice 
will  pronounce  in  favor  of  new  men  and  new  and  more 
favorable  conditions  for  the  growth  of  industry,  the  ex- 
tension of  trade,  the  employment  and  due  reward  of 
labor  and  of  capital,  and  the  general  welfare  of  the  whole 
country." 

THE   OFFICIAL   NOTIFICATION. 

The  Committee  appointed  to  visit  Grover  Cleveland 
and  give  him  an  official  notification  of  his  nomination 
met  in  Albany  on  Tuesday,  July  29th,  1884,  and  were 
received  at  the  Executive  Mansion  in  the  afternoon. 
Hon.  Samuel  J.  Randall  and  Judge  Amasa  Parker  were 
among  those  present,  and  seven  ladies  also  witnessed  the 
ceremony — Miss  Cleveland  and  Mrs.  Hoyt,  sisters  of  the 
Governor ;  Mrs.  Folsom  and  her  daughter ;  his  two 
nieces,  the  Misses  Hastings ;  and  Mrs.  Lament,  the  wife 
of  the  private  secretary. 

The  address  presented  by  the  Committee  was  as  fol- 
lows: 

"  NEW  YORK  CITY,  July  28,  1884. 
"  To  ike  Hon.  Grover  Cleveland,  of  New  York : 

"  SIR  :  In  accordance  with  a  custom  befitting  the  nature 
of  the  communication,  the  undersigned,  representing 


THE    PLATFORM   AND   OFFICIAL   NOTIFICATION".        141 

the  several  States  and  Territories  of  the  Union,  were  ap- 
pointed a  Committee  by  the  National  Democratic  Con- 
vention which  assembled  at  Chicago  on  the  eighth  day 
of  the  current  month,  to  perform  the  pleasing  office 
which  by  this  means  we  have  the  honor  to  execute,  of 
informing  you  of  your  nomination  as  the  candidate  of 
the  Democratic  Party  in  the  ensuing  election  for  the 
office  of  President  of  the  United  States.  A  declara- 
tion of  the  principles  upon  which  the  Democracy  go 
before  the  people  with  the  hope  of  establishing  and 
maintaining  them  in  the  Government  was  made  by  the 
Convention,  and  an  engrossed  copy  thereof  is  submitted 
in  connection  with  this  communication  for  your  consid- 
eration. We  trust  the  approval  of  your  judgment  will 
follow  an  examination  of  this  expression  of  opinion  and 
policy,  and  upon  the  political  controversy  now  made  up 
we  invite  your  acceptance  of  the  exalted  leadership  to 
which  you  have  been  chosen. 

"  The  election  of  a  President  is  an  event  of  the  ut- 
most importance  to  the  people  of  America.  Prosperity, 
growth,  happiness,  peace,  and  liberty  even,  may  depend 
upon  its  wise  ordering.  Your  unanimous  nomination  is 
proof  that  the  Democracy  believe  your  election  will  most 
contribute  to  secure  these  great  objects.  We  assure  you 
that  in  the  anxious  responsibilities  you  must  assume  as  a 
candidate  you  will  have  the  steadfast  cordial  support  of 
the  friends  of  the  cause  you  well  represent,  and  in  the 


142       THE    PLATFORM   AND    OFFICIAL   NOTIFICATION. 


execution  of  the  duties  of  the  high  office  which  we  confi- 
dently expect  from  the  wisdom  of  the  nation  to  be  con- 
ferred upon  you  you  may  securely  rely  for  approving  aid 
upon  the  patriotism,  honor,  and  intelligence  of  this  free 
people.  We  have  the  honor  to  he,  with  great  respect, 

"W.  F.  VILAS  ("Wisconsin),  President. 
"NICHOLAS  M.  BELL  (Missouri),  Secretary. 


D.  P.  Bestor,  Ala., 
Fred.  W.  Fordyce,  Ark., 
Niles  Searles,  Cal., 
M.  M.  S.  Waller,  Col., 
Theo.  M.  Waller,  Conn., 
George  H.  Bates,  Del., 
Atilla  Cox,  Ky., 
James  Jeffries,  La., 

C.  H.  Osgood,  Me., 
George  Wells,  Md., 
J.  E.  Abbott,  Mass., 

D.  J.  Campan,  Mich., 
Tbos.  E.  Heenan,  Minn., 
Charles  E.  Hooker,  Miss., 
David  R.  Francis,  Mo., 
Patrick  Faby,  Neb., 
Wilson  G.  Lamb,  N.  C., 
Joseph  H.  Earle,  S.  C., 
Wm.  A.  Quarles,  Tenn., 
George  L.  Spear,  Vt., 
Frank  Hereford,  W.  Va., 
J.  T.  Hauser,  Montana, 
M.  S.  McCormick,  D.  T., 


D.  E.  McCarthy,  Nev., 
J.  F.  Cloutman,  N.  H., 
John  P.  Stockton,  N.  J., 
John  C.  Jacobs,  N.  Y., 
G.  H.  Oury,  Arizona, 
Ransford  Smith,  Utah, 
John  M.  Selcott,  Idaho, 
W.  D.  Chipley,  Fla., 

M.  P.  Reese,  Ga., 
A.  E  Stevenson,  111., 

E.  D.  Bannister,  Ind., 
L.  G.  Kinue,  Iowa, 

C.  C.  Burnes,  Kan., 
Wm.  E.  Haynes,  Ohio, 
S.  L.  McArthur,  Oregon, 
James  P.  Barr,  Pa., 
David  S.  Baker,  "Jr.,  R  L, 
E.  D.  Wright,  Dist.  of  Col., 
Joseph  E.  Dwyer,  Texas, 
Robert  Beverly,  Va., 

W.  A.  Anderson,  Wis., 
W.  B.  Childers,  N.  Mex., 

D.  B.  Dutro,  W.  T." 


THE   PLATFORM   AND   OFFICIAL   NOTIFICATION.       143 


GOVERNOR   CLEVELAND  8    REPLY. 

The  Governor  replied  as  follows : 

"  MR.  CHAIRMAN  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  : 
Your  formal  announcement  does  not,  of  course,  convey 
to  me  the  first  information  of  the  result  of  the  Conven- 
tion lately  held  by  the  Democracy  of  the  nation,  and  ygt 
when,  as  I  listen  to  your  message,  I  see  about  me  repre- 
sentatives from  all  parts  of  the  land  of  the  great  party 
which,  claiming  to  be  the  party  of  the  people,  asks  them 
to  entrust  to  it  the  administration  of  their  government ; 
and  when  I  consider,  under  the  influence  of  the  stern 
reality  which  the  present  surroundings  create,  that  I  have 
been  chosen  to  represent  the  plans,  purposes,  and  the 
policy  of  the  Democratic  Party,  I  am  profoundly  im- 
pressed by  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion  and  by  the  re- 
sponsibility of  my  position. 

"  Though  I  gratefully  appreciate  it,  I  do  not  at  this 
moment  congratulate  myself  upon  the  distinguished 
honor  which  has  been  conferred  upon  me,  because  my 
mind  is  full  of  an  anxious  desire  to  perform  well  the  part 
which  has  been  assigned  to  me.  Nor  do  I  at  this  mo- 
ment forget  that  the  rights  and  interests  of  more  than 
fifty  millions  of  my  fellow-citizens  are  involved  in  our 
efforts  to  gain  Democratic  supremacy.  This  reflection 
presents  to  my  mind  the  consideration  which  more 


144      THE   PLATFORM   AND   OFFICIAL  NOTIFICATION. 

than  all  others  gives  to  the  action  of  my  party  in  con- 
vention assembled  its  most  sober  and  serious  aspect. 
The  party  and  its  representatives  which  ask  to  be  en- 
trusted at  the  hands  of  the  people  with  the  keeping  of 
all  that  concerns  their  welfare  and  their  safety  should 
only  ask  it  with  the  full  appreciation  of  the  sacredness  of 
the  trust  and  with  a  firm  resolve  to  administer  it  faith- 
fully and  well.  I  am  a  Democrat  because  I  believe  that 
this  truth  lies  at  the  foundation  of  true  Democracy.  I 
have  kept  the  faith  because  I  believe,  if  rightly  and 
fairly  administered  and  applied,  Democratic  doctrines 
and  measures  will  insure  the  happiness,  contentment, 
and  prosperity  of  the  people. 

"If,  in  the  contest  upon  which  we  now  enter,  we 
steadfastly  hold  to  the  underlying  principles  of  our  party 
creed,  and  at  all  times  keep  in  view  the  people's  good, 
we  shall  be  strong,  because  we  are  true  to  ourselves  and 
because  the  plain  and  independent  voters  of  the  land  will 
seek  by  their  suffrages  to  compass  their  release  from 
party  tyranny  where  there  should  be  submission  to  the 
popular  will,  and  their  protection  from  party  corruption 
where  there  should  be  devotion  to  the  people's  interests. 
These  thoughts  lend  a  consecration  to  our  cause,  and 
we  go  forth  not  merely  to  gain  a  partisan  advantage, 
but  pledged  to  give  to  those  who  trust  us  the  utmost 
benefits  of  a  pure  and  honest  administration  of  national 
affairs.  No  higher  purpose  or  motive  can  stimulate  us 


THE  PLATFOKM  AND   OFFICIAL   NOTIFICATION.       145 

to  supreme  effort  or  urge  us  to  continuous  and  earnest 
labor  and  effective  party  organization.  Let  us  not  fail 
in  this,  and  we  may  confidently  hope  to  reap  the  full 
reward  of  patriotic  services  well  performed. 

"  I  have  thus  called  to  mind  some  simple  truths,  and, 
trite  though  they  are,  it  seems  to  me  we  do  well  to  dwell 
upon  them  at  this  time.  I  shall  soon,  I  hope,  signify  in 
the  usual  formal  manner  my  acceptance  of  the  nomina- 
tion which  has  been  tendered  to  me.  In  the  mean  time  I 
gladly  greet  you  all  as  co-workers  in  a  noble  cause." 

GREETING   FROM   ME.  TILDEN. 

A  reception  was  given  directly  after  the  notification  at 
the  Fort  Orange  Club-house.  This  is  an  entirely  non- 
partisan  club,  but  it  joined  in  honoring  the  distinguished 
guests.  After  a  liberal  collation  speeches  were-  made 
by  General  Hooker,  Governor  Waller,  and  Judge 
Parker,  and  the  following  important  telegram  was  read 
by  Senator  Thacher : 

"GREYSTOKE,  July  29th,  1884. 

"  To  Democratic  Phalanx,  Albany : 

"  I  received  last  evening  your  invitation  to  attend  the 
meeting  this  evening  under  the  auspices  of  the  Albany 
Democratic  Phalanx  for  the  purpose  of  ratifying  the 
nomination  of  Cleveland  and  Hendricks.  Although  I 


146      THE  PLATFORM  AND  OFFICIAL  NOTIFICATION. 

cannot  be  present  in  person  with  my  old  friends  in 
Albany  on  that  interesting  occasion,  I  cordially  co-oper- 
ate with  them  in  support  of  the  excellent  nominations 
by  the  Democratic  National  Convention,  and  feel  assured 
that  in  its  success  at  the  election,  of  which  there  is  every 
promise,  the  country  will  achieve  a  substantial  victory  for 
the  cause  of  good  government. 

"  S.  J.  TlLDEN." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


CLEVELAND   AS  A  REFORMER 

No  better  Evidence  that  be  is  a  Reformer  tban  the  Declaration  in 
his  Favor  of  the  New  Tork  Times,  the  Great  Independent  Republi- 
can Newspaper. — George  William  Curtis  brings  the  Power  of  Har- 
per's Weekly  to  his  Support. — The  Roosevelt  Bills. — Administrative 
Reform. — Governor  Cleveland's  Appointments. — His  Opinions  as  to 
Civil-Service  Reform. — "I  do  not  believe  in  turning  out  good  men 
because  their  views  differ  from  mine." — He  Approves  thePendleton 
Bill. — Cleveland  and  Tariff  Reform. — He  Satisfies  Men  on  Medium 
Ground. — Anti-Monopoly  and  Cleveland  as  a  Reformer. — The  Letter 
of  Charles  Francis  Adams,  Jr. 

No  better  evidence  that  Grover  Cleveland  is  a  reformer 
is  needed  than  the  declaration  of  the  New  York  Times, 
the  great  and  independent  Republican  newspaper  of  the 
metropolis,  on  the  morning  following  his  nomination  for 
the  Presidency  at  Chicago.  Said  the  Times  : 

"  With  Grover  Cleveland  as  its  candidate  the  Demo- 
cratic Party  appeals  with  unmistakable  directness  to  the 
moral  sense  of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  It  is  not 
only  in  what  he  clearly  represents  but  in  what  he  dis- 


148  CLEVELAND   AS   A    REFORMER. 

tinctly  opposes  that  Grover  Cleveland  is  strong  before 
the  American  people.  His  career  has  made  him  the  ex- 
ponent of  clean  and  honest  politics.  The  Times  will 
heartily  support  Governor  Cleveland.  It  has  closely 
watched  the  career  of  the  candidate  nominated  at  Chi- 
cago  yesterday,  and  it  has  entire  confidence  in  his  pro- 
bity, in  his  intelligence,  and  in  his  administrative  ability. 
He  ought  to  be  the  next  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  we  believe  he  will  be." 

GEORGE   WILLIAM   CURTIS   AND   CLEVELAND. 

The  exalted  position  of  George  William  Curtis  as  edi- 
tor of  Harper's  Weekly  and  as  a  man  of  ability  and 
moral  worth  gives  especial  interest  to  his  declaration  in 
favor  of  Grover  Cleveland,  published  during  the  week 
following  the  nomination  at  Chicago.  He  said  : 

'•  The  nomination  of  Governor  Cleveland  defines 
sharply  the  actual  issue  of  the  Presidential  election  of 
this  year.  He  is  a  man  whose  absolute  official  integrity 
has  never  been  questioned,  who  has  no  laborious  and 
doubtful  explanations  to  undertake,  and  who  is  univer- 
sally known  as  the  Governor  of  New  York  elected  by  an 
unprecedented  majority  which  was  not  partisan  and  rep- 
resented both  the  votes  and  the  consent  of  an  enormous 
body  of  Republicans,  and  who  as  the  chief  executive  of 
the  State  has  steadly  withstood  the  blandishments  and 
the  threats  of  the  worst  elements  of  his  party  and  has 


CLEVELAND   AS   A   REFORMER.  149 

justly  earned  the  reputation  of  a  courageous,  independent, 
and  efficient  friend  and  promoter  of  administrative  re- 
form. His  name  has  become  that  of  the  especial  repre- 
sentative among  our  public  men  of  the  integrity,  purity, 
and  economy  of  administration  which  are  the  objects  ot 
the  most  intelligent  and  patriotic  citizens. 

"  The  nomination  of  Governor  Cleveland  is  due  not  so 
much  to  the  preference  of  his  party  as  to  the  general 
demand  of  the  country  for  a  candidacy  which  stands  for 
precisely  the  qualities  and  services  which  are  associated 
with  his  name." 

ADMINISTRATIVE   REFORM. 

Legislation  for  the  reform  of  the  municipal  govern- 
ment of  New  York  City  was  the  chief  feature  of  the 
legislative  session  of  1884  at  Albany,  and  Governor 
Cleveland  did  not  refuse  to  sign  any  of  the  Roosevelt 
reform  bills.  Two  of  them  reached  him  in  defective 
shape,  but  he  promptly  suggested  to  their  friends  that 
they  be  recalled  and  amended  in  order  that  he  might 
give  them  his  approval.  Throughout  the  session  he 
co-operated  earnestly  for  the  reform  of  city  affairs,  and 
took  the  trouble  to  write  special  messages  to  the  Legis- 
lature declaring  in  emphatic  language  his  readiness  to 
help  the  work  in  all  ways  within  his  power. 

The  first  of  the  reform  measures  which  reached  him 
was  that  depriving  the  Aldermen  of  their  confirming 


150  CLEVELAND  AS  A   BEFORMER. 

powers.  This  was  a  direct  and  deadly  blow  at  Tam- 
many's power  and  at  the  corrupt  practice  of  controlling 
the  Mayor  by  means  of  "deals"  between  John  Kelly 
and  Johnny  O'Brien.  One  after  another  the  Roosevelt 
bills  came  before  him  and  were  approved.  The  Presi- 
dent of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  was  made  an  elective 
officer ;  the  Comptroller  the  same ;  and  the  abuses  of 
the  fee  system  in  the  Register's,  County  Clerk's,  Sur- 
rogate's, and  Sheriff's  offices  were  abolished,  saving  for 
the  city  in  the  four  fee-offices  not  less  than  two  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  annually. 

The  Christian  Union  said:  "It  is  no  derogation  to 
Mr.  Roosevelt  to  say  that  he,  the  reformer  in  the  Re- 
publican camp,  could  not  have  accomplished  these  re- 
forms without  the  effective,  thorough,  quiet  aid  of  Gov- 
ernor Cleveland  in  the  Democratic  camp." 

During  his  second  winter  at  Albany,  Governor  Cleve- 
land had  reason  to  believe  that  public  money  had  been 
wasted  or  misappropriated  in  the  repair  of  the  arsenals 
and  armories  of  the  State,  and  ordered  an  examination 
which  confirmed  his  suspicions.  A  special  committee 
to  investigate  the  matter  reported  that  a  systematic 
course  of  swindling  had  been  going  on  for  years. 

Governor  Cleveland  believes  that  the  affairs  of  gov- 
ernment should  be  administered  as  honestly  and  as  eco- 
nomically as  the  private  affairs  of  a  shrewd  business- 
man. 


CLEVELAND  AS  A  REFORMER.  151 

GOVERNOR  CLEVELAND'S  APPOINTMENTS. 

In  the  selection  of  men  for  important  appointments 
Governor  Cleveland  appears  as  a  reformer.  When  he 
came  into  office  he  had  a  full  line  of  officers  to  appoint 
in  both  the  military  and  the  civil  departments.  The 
Democratic  Party  had  been  out  of  power  for  three  years, 
and  the  clamor  for  office  was  great.  Three  especially 
important  appointments  were  to  be  made — Superintend- 
ent of  Public  Works,  Superintendent  of  Insurance,  and 
Commissioner  for  building  the  new  Capitol.  He  refused 
to  reward  partisan  service  with  public  trusts,  and  incurred 
the  hostility  of  the  spoilsmen  of  his  party,  but  he  se- 
lected men  who  were  acceptable  to  the  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple of  all  parties. 

Said  one  of  the  ablest  Albany  correspondents :  "  Be- 
sides recommending  and  signing  the  civil-service  laws 
that  have  been  enacted  since  he  came  into  the  governor- 
ship, he  has  by  his  appointments  shown  that  he  needs  no 
party  planks  or  platforms  to  suggest,  or  to  back  him  up 
in  doing,  the  right  thing  for  the  public  service." 

CLEVELAND   ON   CIVIL-SERVICE    REFORM. 

But  Cleveland  has  efficiently  declared  himself  in  favor 
of  civil-service  reform,  and  his  letter  of  acceptance  of 
the  nomination  for  Governor  does  not  contain  the  strong- 
est expression  of  his  views  on  that  subject.  To  a  cor- 


152  CLEVELAND   AS   A   REFORMER. 

respondent  of  the  Chicago  News  who  asked,  in  October, 
1883,  what  he  thought  "  would  be  the  great  issue  be- 
tween the  parties  next  year,"  lie  replied  : 

"  The  question  of  an  honest  administration  of  public 
affairs;  the  reduction  of  public  business  transactions  to 
the  simple  common-sense  of  every-day  life.  I  believe 
the  same  principles  that  prevail  in  private  business  should 
be  made  to  apply  to  the  public  business.  This  involves 
the  cutting  off  of  all  needless  extravagance,  and  the  em- 
ployment of  the  best  men  possible.  I  have  tried  the 
experiment  in  the  administration  of  the  office  of  Gover- 
nor, and,  although  I  have  at  times  come  in  pretty  active 
conflict  with  some  of  the  leading  politicians,  I  yet  believe 
I  am  generally  sustained  by  the  people  throughout  the 
State." 

The  correspondent,  probing  still  further,  asked : 
"Would  you,  then,  retain  Republicans  in  office  where 
they  have  performed  faithful  service?" 

The  Governor's  reply  was  :  "  Certainly ;  I  do  not  be- 
lieve in  turning  out  good  men  because  their  views  may 
differ  from  mine.  Why,  the  best  proof  of  my  belief  in 
this  is  to  have  you  look  at  the  records  in  the  State  offices 
here.  There  are  Republicans  immediately  about  me 
who  were  appointed  by  Cornell,  my  predecessor.  The 
Adjutant-General's  office  is  full  of  Republicans,  but  they 
are  all  good  clerks,  trained  and  efficient.  Why  should  I 
turn  them  out?" 


CLEVELAND  AS  A   REFORMER.  153 

To  the  inquiry  made  by  the  Civil-Service-Reform 
Association  in  October,  1882,  he  replied  that  he  had  "no 
hesitation  in  saying"  that  he  "  fully  approved  of  the 
principles  embodied  in  the  Pendleton  bill  and  should  be 
glad  to  aid  in  any"  practical  legislation  which  would  give 
them  a  place  in  the  management  of  the  affairs  of  the 
State  and  of  municipalities." 

CLEVELAND  AND  TARIFF  REFORM. 

Mr.  J.  S.  Moore,  whose  advocacy  of  tariff  reform  is 
well  known  to  most  persons  of  intelligence,  said  :  "  I  am 
perfectly  satisfied  with  the  expression  of  the  tariff  plank 
in  the  Democratic  platform.  I  only  hope  and  trust  that 
when  the  time  for  action  comes  the  party,  I  mean  the 
whole  Democratic  Party,  will  live  up  to  it.  In  the  first 
place,  I  have  been  working  for  tariff  reform  for  the  last 
sixteen  years,  and  not  for  free  trade." 

Governor  Cleveland  has  plainly  declared  himself  in 
favor  of  tariff  reform  rather  than  free  trade,  and  even 
Henry  Watterson,  of  the  Louisville  Courier-Journal,  the 
foremost  free-trader  of  his  party,  perceived  that  the  elec- 
tion of  Cleveland  would  not  involve  the  adoption  of  free- 
trade  theories,  for  on  July  17th  he  wrote:  "It  is  not 
plainly  and  simply  an  issue  between  free  trade  and  pro- 
tection;  it  is  an  issue  between  a  radical  reduction  of  the 
present  protective  duties,  as  urged  by  the.  Democrats, 
and  a  perpetuation  of  the  so-called  protective  policy, 
which  accumulates  annually  a  surplus  of  $100,000,000 


154  CLEVELAND   AS   A    REFORMER. 

and  crushes  our  industries  and  paralyzes  commerce  by 
excessive  and  extortionate  taxation." 

ANTI-MONOPOLY   AND   CLEVELAND    A8   A   REFORMER. 

Mr.  Simon  Sterne,  whose  services  in  exposing  and  com 
bating  corporate  rapacity  and  injustice  in  New  York 
have  been  important,  wrote  a  letter,  early  in  the  cam- 
paign, in  which  he  grouped  the  evidence  of  monopolistic 
leanings  on  the  part  of  Messrs.  Blaine  and  Butler,  and 
said  :  "  The  issue  remains  between  Messrs.  Cleveland  and 
Blaine.  There  is  no  hope  of  electing  a  third  candidate'. 
And  every  vote  against  Cleveland  would  be  for  Blaine. 
From  the  latter  Anti-Monopolists  have  nothing  to  hope. 
He  dares  not,  if  he  now  would,  offend  the  monopoly 
powers,  who  hold  his  secrets  .and  controlled  his  actions  in 
the  past." 

Mr.  Sterne  reviewed  the  gubernatorial  career  of  Cleve- 
land, and  expressed  much  when  he  said  of  the  bill  to 
regulate  the  hours  of  labor  of  a  very  small  class  in  New 
York:  "If  such  legislation  is  desirable  and  expedient, 
there  should  be  a  general  law  making  it  a  misdemeanor 
to  employ  people  in  any  trade  or  occupation  longer  than 
twelve  hours  a  day,  and  not  confine  the  immunity  or  pen- 
alty to  a  single  employment  and  one  class  only  of  corpo- 
rations." 

THE    LETTER    OF    CHARLES    FRANCIS    ADAMS.    JR. 

That  Grover  Cleveland  was  the  man  desired  by  those 


CLEVELAND  AS  A  REFORMEK.  155 

persons  who  love  country  most  and  party  least  to  reform 
the  Federal  Government  is  indicated  by  the  following 
extract  from  a  letter  written  by  Charles  Francis  Adams, 
Jr.,  on  the  day  after  the  Republican  nominations  were 
made  at  Chicago : 

"  MY  DEAE  SIR  :  .  .  .  I  presume  there  is  no  question  as 
to  the  attitude  of  the  members  of  the  Reform  Club  to- 
ward the  Republican  nominations.  We  will  at  once  or- 
ganize to  defeat  them.  On  this  point,  it  seems  to  me,  our 
response  cannot  be  too  explicit  or  our  action  too  quick.  .  .  . 

"Could  the  Democratic  Party  be  galvanized  into  that 
degree  of  momentary  good  sense  which  would  lead  it 
for  once  to  astonish  the  country  and  itself  by  putting 
forward  such  a  ticket  as  Cleveland  and  Carlisle,  the  result 
in  November  would  not  be  in  doubt  for  a  moment.  Ex- 
perience tells  us  that  the  task  is  desperate ;  but  so  is  the 
situation.  Blaine  is  the  other  horn  of  our  dilemma.  If 
we  wiil,  we  can  do  more  than  we  think  to  galvanize 
even  the  Democratic  Party.  But  to  do  it  we  must  act. 

"  I  hope,  therefore,  that  immediate  steps  will  be  taken, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Reform  Club,  toward  calling  a 
conference  of  those  who  think  as  we  think.  We  must 
be  represented  at  Chicago  in  July.  If  we  fail  there  also, 
then,  as  the  Italian  forestieri,  or  '  dwellers  in  the  woods,' 
so  far  as  I  now  can  see,  we  must  meet  together  in  the 
sylvan  shades  and  name  our  own  men  for  whom  we  will 
cast  a  self-respecting  vote.  I  am,  etc., 

"  CHARLES  F.  ADAMS,  Jr." 


CHAPTER  IX. 


CLEVELAND  AND  THE  INDEPENDENTS. 

The  Fight  of  Reformers  in  the  Chicago  Republican  Convention. — 
Their  Defeat  and  their  Revolt. — Heroic  Treatment  f<>r  the  "Grand 
Old  Party." — Salvation  by  Defeat.— The  Democratic  Party  in  Con- 
trol of  the  Independent  Vote. — The  Call  for  an  Independent  Con- 
ference.— A  Great  Assembly  in  the  University  Club  Theatre,  New 
York. — Chairman  Codman's  Eloquent  Address. — The  Committees. — 
The  Independent  Platform. — The  Principles  it  Enunciates  and  the 
Invitation  it  Extends. — A  National  Committee  of  Forty. — Where 
the  Independents  will  Work  Hardest  for  Cleveland. 

The  independent  voters  undoubtedly  desired  tlie  nom- 
ination of  Senator  Edmunds,  of  Vermont,  as  the  Repub- 
lican candidate  for  the  Presidency,  and  a  strong  delrga- 
tion  of  them  went  to  Chicago  in  June  to  work  for  that 
result.  Mr.  Theodore  Eoosevelt,  the  leader  of  the 
Young  Republicans,  representing  independent  sentiment 
as  a  reformer  in  the  last  New  York  Legislature,  and  Mr. 
Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  of  Massachusetts,  conducted  the 
independent  canvass  in  behalf  of  Senator  Edmunds  in 
the  National  Republican  Convention,  and  among  the 
older  leaders  who  participated  in  their  counsels  George 
William  Curtis  was  conspicuous. 


CLEVELAND  AND  THE  INDEPENDENTS.  157 

"DEFEAT  WILL    BE   THE    SALVATION  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN 
PAKTY." 

The  nomination  of  President  Arthur  would  have  been 
a  concession  to  the  independent  element  of  the  Republi- 
can Party,  but  the  reformers  were  beaten  at  every  point, 
and  their  feelings  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Repub- 
lican Convention  found  expression  in  the  following 
editorial  utterance  of  the  New  York  Times  on  June  7, 
in  connection  with  its  declaration  that  it  would  not  sup- 
port Elaine  for  the  Presidency  : 

"Defeat  will  be  the  salvation  of  the  Republican 
Party.  It  will  arouse  its  torpid  conscience,  it  will  stir  it 
to  self-purification,  it  will  depose  the  false  leaders  who 
have  fastened  themselves  upon  it,  it  will  send  the  rogues 
to  the  background  and  will  make  the  party  once  more 
worthy  of  honor  and  of  power  in  the  Republic  it  has  so 
nobly  served.  When  the  party  has  passed  through  the 
fires  of  defeat  and  is  well  rid  of  its  peccant  humors  it 
will  come  back  to  the  impregnable  ground  of  right  it 
stood  on  when  it  beat  down  treason  and  disunion,  to  a 
position  in  which  it  shall  embody  the  highest  and  best 
impulses  of  American  life,  to  a  state  of  heart  and  mind 
which  shall  fit  it  to  be  again  the  custodian  of  that  match- 
less trust,  'government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and 
for  the  people.' " 

Vigorous     protests     were     made     by    independents 


158  CLEVELAND    AND   THE   INDEPENDENTS. 

throughout  the  country  as  soon  as  it  was  known  that  the 

15  * 

reformers  had  been  ignored  in  the  Republican  Conven- 
tion, and  "  bolters"  were  numerous  from  the  very  first, 
but  decisive  action  was  deferred  until  the  Democratic 
candidates  were  nominated,  and  the  anxiety  with  which 
the  thoughts  of  the  independents  turned  toward  the 
Convention  to  open  in  Chicago  on  July  8  is  indicated 
by  the  following  from  the  Springfield  Republican  of 
June  9 : 

"  The  independent  vote  is  the  great  break  from  the 
Republican  column.  What  will  become  of  that  vote 
depends  wholly  upon  the  Democrats.  If  they  put  up  a 
candidate  who  is  incorruptible  and  able  to  govern  intelli- 
gently, and  who  has  proved  his  capacity  by  a  successful 
career  in  national  or  State  affairs,  the  independents  will 
vote  for  him.  The  action  of  the  Massachusetts  Reform 
Club  in  favor  of  such  action  Saturday  was  prompt  and 
decisive.  Leading  party  journals,  like  the  New  York 
Times,  the  Boston  Advertiser,  and  Harpers  Weekly  de- 
cline to  support  the  Republican  ticket." 

THE  CALL  FOR  AN  INDEPENDENT  CONFERENCE. 

The  general  committee  of  the  Independent  Republi- 
cans of  New  York  met  on  Monday,  July  14,  and,  the 
nominations  of  the  Democrats  being  acceptable  to  the 
members  of  the  committee,  there  was  general  acquies- 
cence in  the  suggestion  that  steps  be  promptly  taken  to 


CLEVELAND   AND   THE    INDEPENDENTS.  159 

express  approval  of  the  Democratic  ticket.  Officers  of 
the  organizations  at  Boston,  New  Haven,  and  Buffalo 
telegraphed  authority  for  the  use  of  their  signatures  to 
the  following  call : 

"  The  undersigned  committees  invite  all  Republicans 
and  independent  voters  who  disapprove  of  the  nomina- 
tions made  by  the  Republican  National  Convention  at 
Chicago  as  unworthy  of  support,  who  think  that  the 
interests  of  good  government  and  of  public  morals  de- 
mand the  defeat  of  the  Republican  candidates  for  Presi- 
dent and  Vice-President,  and  who  are  therefore  resolved 
not  to  vote  for  Blaine  and  Logan,  to  meet  for  confer- 
ence, either  in  person  or  by  delegation,  for  the  purpose 
of  determining  upon  a  common  course  of  action  in  the 
pending  canvass.  The  conference  will  be  held  on  July 
22  in  the  city  of  New  York,  at  11  A.M.,  in  the  Univer- 
sity Club  Theatre,  corner  of  Twenty-sixth  Street  and 
Madison  Avenue.  Gentlemen  desiring  to  take  part 
are  respectfully  requested  to  report  their  names  to  S. 
W.  Grierson,  35  Nassau  Street,  as  early  as  possible,  in 
order  to  facilitate  the  arrangements  for  the  conference. 
GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS,  President,  and  S.  "W. 
GRIERSON,  Secretary,  Independent  Republican  Com- 
mittee of  New  York. 

CHARLES  R.  CODMAN,  President,  and  DARWIN  E. 
WARE,  Chairman  Executive  Committee,  Commit- 
tee of  One  Hundred,  Boston. 


160  CLEVELAND   AND   THE   INDEPENDENTS. 

SIMEON  E.  BALDWIN,  President,  and  TALCOTT  IT. 
RUSSELL,  Secretary,  Committee  of  Twenty-live, 
New  Haven,  Connecticut. 

J.  N.  LAENED,  Chairman,  and  RALPH  STONE,  Secre- 
tary, Independent  Republican  Committee,  Buffalo, 
N.  Y." 

THE   GREAT   DEMONSTRATION    IN    NEW    YORK. 

Long  before  the  hour  fixed  for  the  opening  of  the 
conference  on  July  22,  the  entrance  to  the  University 
Club  Theatre  was  besieged  by  applicants  for  admis- 
sion ;  and  to  prevent  the  entrance  of  disturbers  each 
person  was  requested  to  sign  the  following : 

"Disapproving  of  the  nominations  made  by  the  Re- 
publican National  Convention  at  Chicago  as  unworthy  of 
support,  and  believing  that  the  interests  of  good  govern- 
ment and  of  public  morals  demand  the  defeat  of  the  Re- 
publican candidates  for  President  and  Vice-President,  and 
being  therefore  resolved  not  to  vote  for  Blaine  and 
Logan,  I  desire  to  take  part  with  other  Republican  in- 
dependent voters  in  the  conference  to  be  held  at 
the  University  Club  Theatre,  Madison  Avenue  and 
Twenty-sixth  Street,  New  York,  Tuesday,  July  22,  at 

11  A.M. 

(Signature) 

(Address) 

(State) » 


CLEVELAND    AND   THE    INDEPENDENTS.  161 

So  great  were  the  numbers  that  standing  room  was 
exhausted,  and  even  the  stairways  became  impassable. 
Men  like  John  Foord,  editor  of  the  Brooklyn  Union- 
Argus,  Professor  Rice,  of  Columbia  College,  George 
H.  Putnam,  and  Benjamin  II.  Bristow  were  seen  on 
all  sides.  They  were  all  enthusiastic,  and  the  slight- 
est allusion  to  the  object  their  cause  had  in  view 
called  forth  thunders  of  applause.  When  Carl  Schurz 
entered  the  hall  he  was  greeted  with  a  prolonged  cheer, 
which  was  renewed  when  Colonel  Theodore  Lyman, 
of  Massachusetts,  appeared. 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  Mr.  Curtis,  "  it  is  my  pleasant 
duty  as  chairman  of  the  Independent  Republican 
Committee  of  New  York,  and  on  its  behalf,  to  wel- 
come you  to  this  conference  and  to  call  it  to  order. 
This  conference  is  assembled  in  obedience  to  this  invi- 
tation," and  Mr.  Curtis  read  the  call.  Then  he  read 
the  following  list  of  officers,  which  was  unanimously 
adopted,  many  of  the  names  being  received  with  ring- 
ing applause : 

President — C.  R.  Codman,  of  Massachusetts. 

Yice-Presidents — H.  A.  Babbitt,  C.  P.  Armstrong, 
and  H.  "W.  Farnam,  of  Connecticut;  "William  Endi- 
cott,  Samuel  Hoar,  and  Robert  Blaikie,  of  Massachu- 
setts; Carl  Schurz,  Francis  C.  Barlow,  and  Theodore 
Bacon,  of  New  York ;  William  Hayes  Ward,  H.  P. 
Gerbert,  and  P.  W.  Burdge,  of  New  Jersey ;  Henry  C. 


162  CLEVELAND   AND  THE   INDEPENDENTS. 

Lea,  Francis  P.  Keeves,  and  Walter  Wood,  of  Penn- 
sylvania ;  Joseph  Batell,  of  Vermont ;  James  F.  Claf- 
lin,  of  Illinois ;  C.  J.  Bonaparte,  of  Maryland  ;  Benja- 
min F.  Tlmrston,  of  Eliode  Island  ;  and  S.  Walter 
Merrihew  and  William  G.  Thompson,  of  Michigan. 

Secretaries — George  H.  Earle,  of  Pennsylvania ;  George 
W.  Green,  of  New  York;  and  George  D.  Miller,  of 
Connecticut. 

Enrolment  Committee — George  W.  Folsom,  of  New 
York ;  Talcott  H.  Russell,  of  Connecticut ;  Moses 
Williams,  of  Massachusetts;  and  Joseph  Parrish,  of 
Pennsylvania. 

CHAIRMAN  CODMAN'S  ADDRESS. 

Chairman  Codman's  address  was  most  impress've, 
and  the  words  were  punctuated  with  hearty  applause. 
When  he  said  that  the  representative  of  the  principles 
of  reform  was  now  Governor  of  New  York,  the  audi- 
ence rose  to  its  feet  and  cheered  enthusiastically. 
After  a  brief  introduction  Colonel  Codman  said  : 
"Acting  as  all  of  us  have  done  at  times  with  the 
Republican  Party,  and  most  of  us  never  failing  to 
support  its  noninations,  and  some  of  us  its  supporters 
when  it  was  neither  successful  nor  popular,  it  is  net 
without  pain  that  we  find  ourselves  compelled  to  op- 
pose the  Presidential  nomination  of  this  historical  or- 
ganization, bnt  we  say  that  parties  are  but  means  to 


CLEVELAND  AND  THE   INDEPENDENTS.  163 

accomplish  political  ends ;  that  they  must  stand  for 
principles  if  they  are  to  have  any  more  vitality  than 
that  of  mere  organization,  and  that  they  cannot  live 
alone  upon  the  memory  of  great  results  achieved,  if 
they  do  not  meet  the  demands  of  the  time;  and  we 
do  not  see  that  at  the  present  time  the  great  parties 
that  divide  the  country  are  clearly  and  unmistakably 
at  issue  upon  any  important  question,  so  that  we  are 
confined  in  this  Presidential  canvass  almost  exclusively 
to  the  question  of  the  fitness  of  candidates. 

"  It  is  in  some  respects  fortunate  that  it  is  so ;  for  if 
the  Democrats  had  declared  themselves  in  opposition 
to  any  political  ideas  which  we  have  been  accustomed 
to  consider  the  cardinal  principles  of  the  Republican 
Party,  and  if  then  the  Republicans  had  nominated 
Mr.  Bhaine,  our  position  would  have  been  far  more 
trying  than  it  is  to-day.  We  should  have  been  com- 
pelled to  face  the  painful  and  discouraging  alternative 
of  not  sustaining  cherished  political  opinions,  or  of 
voting  for  a  candidate  we  believe  to  be  unworthy. 
But  happily  all  the  principles  to  maintain  which  the 
Republican  Part}7  was  founded  have  long  since  been 
firmly  established  in  the  legislation  of  the  country. 

"  It  is  true  that  Mr.  Blaine  in  his  skilful  letter  of 
acceptance  has  at  last  expressed  very  positive  opinions 
upon  one  subject.  He  has  come  out  as  an  ardent  civil- 
service  reformer,  now  that  the  country  has  pronounced 


164  CLEVELAND    AND   THE   INDEPENDENTS. 

for  tlie  reform,  although  on  the  day  when  the  cause 
was  striiffflinfir  and  weak  it  had  no  assistance  from  this 

OO  O 

always  influential  political  leader.  There  have  been 
one  or  t\vo  reactions,  however,  since  then,  and  the  peo- 
ple have  in  no  uncertain  tones  proclaimed  their  will. 
It  is  certainly  a  fact  to-day  that  political  managers  will 
not  openly  oppose  the  popular  demand,  and  no  back- 
ward steps  will  be  taken  in  extending  and  maintaining 
the  reform.  We  have  not  taken  the  decided  acrion 
that  brings  us  here  to-day  without  some  remonstrances 
from  our  party  associates.  They  have  urged  upon  us 
the  claim  of  the  old  organization,  and  have  rung 
the  changes  upon  its  achievements.  They  have  told 
us  that  the  great  results  of  the  war  would  be  jeop- 
ardized if  the  Democratic  Party  should  come  into 
power.  They  have  warned  us  that  capital  would  be 
destroyed  and  labor  would  be  paralyzed  if  there  should 
be  a  discontinuance  of  Republican  administration. 
They  have  said  that  Mr.  Elaine  should  be  chosen 
President  because  he  would  do  what  other  Presidents 
have  not  done  and  what  he  alone  can  do,  and  that  is 
to  make  this  country  respected  by  foreign  nations. 
To  all  such  suggestions  we  have  been  impervious. 

"We  have  replied  that  the  constitutional  interpreta- 
tions settled  by  the  war  are  not  disputed  ;  that  the  Demo- 
crats, who  are  at  least  nearly  half  the  people  in  the  coun- 
try, have  no  desire,  and  can  have  no  interest,  to  check  the 


CLEVELAND   AND   THE   INDEPENDENTS  165 

national  prosperity;  and  that  this  country  is  respected 
throughout  the  world  for  its  power,  its  freedom,  its  en- 
ergy and  its  resources,  and  that  it  will  continue  to  be  so 
respected  unless  some  '  aggressive'  and  'magnetic'  Presi- 
dent shall  succeed  in  making  it  ridiculous.  There  has 
not  been  much  in  such  considerations  as  these  to  induce 
us  to  give  our  support  to  a  discredited  and  obnoxious  can- 
didate. But  an  appeal  has  also  been  made  to  our  sympa- 
thies and  to  our  highest  sense  of  justice. 

"Are  we  ready,  it  has  been  asked, ^to  justify  or  con- 
done such  incidents  as  the  Copiah  massacre  ?  Will  we 
ally  ourselves  with  a  political  party  that  carries  elections 
by  murder  and  intimidation  ? 

"  I  answer  that  I  believe  we  yield  to  none  in  our  ab- 
horrence of  the  affair  at  Copiah.  It  was  an  outrage  ut- 
terly without  justification,  and  it  is  an  infinite  disgrace 
to  the  community  that  tolerated  it.  Nor  will  we  ally 
ourselves  to  a  party  that  carries  elections  by  murder  and 
intimidation  ;  but  before  all  things  we  will  be  just,  and 
we  will  not  charge  the  whole  South  or  the  whole  Demo- 
cratic Party  with  the  responsibility  of  an  act  that  belongs 
to  one  small  community  alone,  but  our  Republican  critics 
know  perfectly  well — there  are  no  men  in  the  country 
that  know  it  better — that  these  occurrences  could  not 
have  been  prevented  by  any  action  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment. If  they  could,  how  does  it  happen  that  during 
two  Republican  administrations  there  has  been  no  at- 


166  CLEVELAND    AND   THE   INDEPENDENTS. 

tempt  at  Federal  interference?  And  why  is  it  that  IK> 
Republican  politician  ventures  to  recommend  such  inter- 
ference? No,  gentlemen,  the  truth  is  that  time  and  edu- 
cation and  enlightened  self-interest  and  the  influence  of 
civilization  and  Christianity  are  the  agencies  that  must 
be  relied  upon  to  prevent  these  crimes;  and  if  we  may 
judge  the  future  by  the  past,  we  may  expect  that  at  no 
distant  period  the  barbarous  ideas  and  practices  which 
slavery  has  left  as  a  legacy  to  the  South  will  yield  to 
these  benign  influences.  No  one  can  deny,  and  no  one 
ought  to  fail  to  rejoice,  that  such  incidents  as  that  at 
Copiah,  which  were  once  common,  are  now  exceptional ; 
and  that  the  two  races  which  an  overruling  Providence 
has  placed  side  by  side  in  the  Southern  States  are  ap- 
proaching, under  the  influence  of  universal  freedom,  of 
equal  political  rights  and  a  wider  diffusion  of  knowledge, 
a  better  understanding  of  and  a  more  generous  considera- 
tion for  each  other. 

"  But  however  that  may  be,  we  are  not  to  be  turned 
from  what  seems  to  us  a  plain  and  obvious  duty  by  an  at- 
tempt to  appeal  to  any  sectional  feeling,  or  even  to  our 
sense  of  the  wickedness  of  men  or  communities  for  whom 
we  are  not  responsible.  "We  shall  not  give  up  our  right 
to  condemn  and  denounce  lawlessness  and  oppression  in 
the  South  any  more  than  our  right  to  condemn  political 
dishonesty  in  the  North.  We  shall  exercise  both  of  these 
rights.  We  shall  not  support  Mr.  Elaine,  nor  shall  we 


CLEVELAND  AND  THE   INDEPENDENTS.  167 

support  any  man  who  justifies  the  Copiah  murder,  if  in- 
deed such  a  man  can  be  found  for  whom  any  one  would 
ask  the  suffrages  of  the  people.  We  respect  the  convic- 
tions of  others,  but,  for  ourselves,  we  say  that  it  is  just  as 
impossible  for  us  to  support  Mr.  Blaine  as  it  is  to  lie  or 
to  steal.  We  are  assembled  here  to-day  to  confer  to- 
gether and  to  consider  what  practical  action  we  shall  take. 
We  have  one  purpose  in  view,  and  as  reasonable  men  we 
desire  to  act  together.  But  we  shall  not,  I  think,  make 
any  attempt  to  demand  pledges  or  to  bind  consciences. 
Whatever  is  done  here,  every  man  is  free  to  follow  his 
own  course.  No  pledges  will  be  asked,  and  certainly 
none  will  be  given. 

"  For  myself,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the  defeat  of 
Mr.  Blaine  should  be  compassed  by  all  honorable  means. 
It  seems  to  me  that  the  cause  of  good  government,  of 

ir 

pure  politics,  of  American  character,  requires  it  to  be 
done.  There  is  but  one  way  to  do  it,  and  that  way  must 
be  obvious  to  us  all.  We  desire  first  of  all  a  President 
that  is  incorruptible,  and  if,  besides  that,  he  is  able  and 
independent,  so  much  the  better. 

"We  have  not  far  to  go  to  find  a  man  who  is  all  this. 
It  has  been  said  recently  by  some  of  the  supporters  of 
Mr.  Blaine  that  no  Democratic  President  was  ever  able 
to  resist  the  pressure  of  party  managers.  It  may  perhaps 
be  true,  and  possibly  some  Republican  Presidents  have 
been  open  to  the  same  criticism ;  but  there  is  certainly 


168  CLEVELAND   AND   THE   INDEPENDENTS. 

one  Democratic  official  who  has  shown  the  ability  to  suc- 
cessfully resist  all  pressure  that  would  interfere  with  the 
faithful  performance  of  official  duty,  and  he  is  now  Gov- 
ernor of  New  York  and  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
President  of  the  United  States — a  man  whose  utterances 
and  whose  acts,  whether  as  mayor  or  governor,  have 
proved  that  he  holds  office  not  for  personal  end,  but  as  a 
trust  for  the  people,  whose  servant  he  is.  As  a  lifelong 
opponent  of  the  Democratic  Party,  and  with  no  intention 
now  of  becoming  identified  with  it,  I  will  yet  rejoice,  and 
I  will  say  that  it  is  fortunate  for  the  Republic  that  at  a 
crisis  when  the  party  which  has  been  the  party  of  pro- 
gress halts  and  is  unfaithful,  the  party  which  we  have 
been  accustomed  to  distrust  shows  wise  intelligence  and 
civic  courage.  It  has  risen  to  its  great  opportunity,  and 
those  Republicans  who  would  make  effectual  opposition 
to  a  candidate  they  believe  to  be  unfit  can  with  no  loss 
of  self-respect,  without  surrendering  a  conviction,  and  in 
the  exercise  of  the  highest  political  expediency,  give  their 
votes  to  the  reform  Governor  of  New  York. 

"  Let  us,  then,  in  a  vigorous  and  businesslike  way,  pro- 
ceed to  the  work  before  us.  Let  us  take  steps  to  lay  be- 
fore the  country  the  evidence  that  has  convinced  us  that 
the  Republican  nomination  for  President  was  unfit  to  be 
made.  Let  us  declare  that  we  stand  together  and  that  we 
ask  our  fellow-citizens  to  join  us  to  make  our  protest 
effectual  against  corruption  in  office.  Let  us  try  to  im- 


CLEVELAND   AND  THE   INDEPENDENTS.  169 

press  upon  the  voters  by  our  words  and  acts  that  political 
straightforwardness  is  better  than  political  success,  and 
when  we  have  done  our  work  here  let  us  go  to  our  homes 
and  use  such  influence  as  we  have  to  further  the  cause 
which  we  conceive  to  be  the  cause  of  our  country." 

COMMITTEES    ON   RESOLUTIONS    AND   ORGANIZATION. 

The  Chairman  appointed  the  following  Committee  on 
Resolutions  to  which  should  be  referred  all  resolutions 
that  were  introduced  :  Carl  Schurz,  George  William  Cur- 
tis; Moorn'eld  Storey  and  George  F.  "Williams,  of  Massa- 
chusetts ;  F.  B.  Reeves  and  William  Hunt,  Jr.,  of  Penn- 
sylvania; Maurice  F.  Tyler  and  C.  P.  Armstrong,  of 
Connecticut ;  W.  Hayes  Ward,  of  New  Jersey ;  W.  G. 
Thompson,  of  Michigan ;  Benjamin  F.  Thurston,  of 
Rhode  Island ;  Jatnes  T.  Claflin,  of  Illinois ;  and  H.  B. 
Goddard,  of  Maryland. 

"  I  take  it  that  when  the  conference  adjoins  it  means 
to  leave  behind  it  some  evidence  of  the  work  we  mean  to 
do,"  said  Mr.  Horace  E.  Deming,  the  Brooklyn  lawyer ; 
"  I  therefore  move  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of 
six  to  report  back  to  this  conference  a  plan  of  permanent 
organization  and  suggestions  of  the  work  to  be  done  after 
the  conference  adjourns." 

Mr.  Deming  was  made  chairman  of  such  a  committee, 
the  other  members  being  Talcott  H.  Russell,  of  New 
Haven ;  C.  Richardson,  of  Pennsylvania ;  Moses  Wil- 


170  CLEVELAND   AND  THE   INDEPENDENTS. 

liams,  of  Brookline,  Mass.;  W.  F.  Kiff,  of  Buffalo,  K  Y.; 
and  A.  F.  Eaton,  of  Rhode  Island. 

THE  INDEPENDENT  PLATFORM. 

Cheers  greeted  Mr.  George  "William  Curtis  as  he  came 
forward  to  read  the  address  which  enunciates  the  position 
of  the  independent  Eepublicans  and  invites  others  who 
think  as  they  do  to  join  them.  Mr.  Curtis  read  slowly, 
clearly,  and  impressively,  and  many  times  was  compelled 
to  stop  because  of  the  enthusiasm  evoked.  Following  is 
the  address : 

"  To  OUR  FELLOW-CITIZENS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  : 
The  paramount  issue  of  the  Presidential  election  of  this 
year  is  moral  rather  than  political.  It  concerns  the  na- 
tional honor  and  character  and  honesty  of  administration 
rather  than  general  policies  of  government,  upon  which 
the  platforms  of  the  two  parties  do  not  essentially  differ. 
No  position  taken  by  one  platform  is  seriously  traversed 
by  the  other.  Both  evidently  contemplate  a  general 
agreement  of  public  opinion  upon  subjects  which  have 
been  long  in  controversy  and  indicate  an  unwillingness  to 
declare  upon  other  and  cardinal  questions  views  which  in 
the  present  condition  of  opinion  might  seriously  disturb 
the  parties  within  themselves.  Parties  indeed  now  cohere 
mainly  by  habit  and  tradition,  and  since  the  great,  ie?u<-s 
which  have  divided  them  have  been  largely  settled,  the 
most  vital  political  activity  has  been  the  endeavor  of 


CLEVELAND   AND  THE   INDEPENDENTS.  171 

good  citizens  in  both  parties  to  adjnst  them  to  living 
issues  and  to  make  them  effective  agencies  of  political 
progress  and  reform.  The  indispensable  necessity  of  this 
course  has  been  long  apparent,  for  in  a  time  of  profound 
peace  at  home  and  abroad  the  most  threatening  national 
peril  is  an  insidious  political  corrup.tfon,  a  mercenary  and 
demoralizing  spirit  and  tendency,  the  result  of  what  is 
well  described  by  Senator  Hoar,  of  Massachusetts,  as  '  the 
shameless  doctrine  that  the  true  way  by  which  power 
should  be  gained  in  the  Republic  is  to  bribe  the  people 
with  the  offices  created  for  their  service,  and  the  true  end 
for  which  it  should  be  used  when  gained  is  the  promo- 
tion of  selfish  ambition  and  the  gratification  of  personal 
revenge.'  But  this  doctrine  naturally  has  produced  re- 
sults which  are  still  more  alarming.  The  corrupt  spirit 
and  tendency  have  so  rapidly  developed  that  they  seek 
political  power  not  only  to  gratify  ambition  and  revenge, 
but  to  promote  private  gain.  They  decide  appeals  to 
the  public  conscience,  defend  the  soiled  reputations  of 
public  men  by  the  bold  assertion  that  all  public  men  are 
equally  guilty,  declare  that  success  in  obtaining  eminent 
position  disposes  of  every  imputation  and  suspicion  of 
wrongdoing,  and,  despising  all  practical  measures  to  re- 
form the  system  of  official  patronage  which  fosters  dis- 
honest polities,  make  a  great  party  nominally  responsi- 
ble for  prolonged  and  monstrous  fraud,  and  proclaim 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  citizen  who  for  great  and 


172  CLEVELAND   AND  THE   INDEPENDENTS. 

beneficial  ends  has  habitually  supported  a  party  to  regard 
the  success  of  the  party  at  an  election,  without  regard  to 
the  character  of  those  whom  it  selects  as  its  executive 
agents,  to  be  a  supreme  national  necessity.  A  tendency 
more  fatal  to  the  public  welfare  cannot  be  conceived, 
and  when  by  public  indifference  or  misunderstanding 
this  corrupt  spirit  is  able  to  demand  that  the  country 
shall  approve  it  by  according  to  it  the  highest  honor  in 
its  gift,  every  patriotic  citizen  must  perceive  that  no  duty 
could  be  more  pressing,  vital,  and  imperative  than  that 
of  baffling  and  defeating  the  demand. 

"If  the  Republican  Convention  had  presented  a  can- 
didate whose  character  and  career  were  the  pledge  of  a 
resolute  contest  with  the  tendencies  that  we  have  de- 
scribed ;  if  they  had  foretold  a  stern  dealing  with  politi- 
cal corruption  and  a  vigorous  correction  of  the  vast 
abuses  which  the  long  and  undisturbed  tenure  of  power 
by  any  party  is  sure  to  breed  ;  if  the  success  of  the  can- 
didate had  promised  inflexible  honesty  of  administration, 
purification  of  the  government,  and  elevation  of  the 
party  standard,  every  Eepublican  voter  would  have 
gladly  supported  the  nomination.  But  these  are  pre- 
cisely the  anticipations  which  the  nomination  forbids. 
It  offers  a  candidate  who  is  an  unfit  leader,  shown  by 
his  own  words  and  his  acknowledged  acts,  which  are  of 
official  record,  to  be  unworthy  of  respect  and  confidence ; 
who  has  traded  upon  his  official  trust  for  his  pecuniary 


CLEVELAND   AND  THE   INDEPENDENTS.  173 

gain ;  a  representative  of  men,  methods,  and  conduct 
which  the  public  conscience  condemns,  and  which  illus- 
trate the  very  evils  which  honest  men  would  reform. 
Such  a  nomination  does  not  promise  in  the  Executive 
chair  inflexible  official  integrity,  color,  and  wise  judg- 
ment; a  sole  regard  for  the  public  welfare,  and  an  un- 
shrinking determination  to  promote  reform  in  the  civil 
service,  and  ceaselessly  to  pursue  and  punish  public  robbers 
of  every  kind  and  degree.  Independent  voters  have  gen- 
erally supported  Republican  nominations  as  more  surely 
promising  reform  than  those  of  the  Democratic  Party. 
Independents,  however,  cannot  support  a  nomination 
which  is  the  culmination  of  the  tendency  that  they  would 
correct.  Republicans  cannot  hope  that  under  such  lead- 
ership as  we  have  mentioned  the  abuses  of  the  past  can 
be  corrected  or  the  party  reformed.  "We  are  very  proud 
of  the  great  record  and  services  of  the  Republican  Party, 
but  not  with  our  consent  or  connivance  shall  that  record 
be  disgraced. 

"  Every  party  must  be  constantly  renewed  by  the  in- 
telligent independence  of  its  own  members,  or  it  will 
sink  from  an  agency  to  secure  good  government  into  a 
remorseless  despotism.  The  Republican  Party  sprang 
from  a  moral  sentiment.  It  was  the  party  of  political 
morality  and  of  personal  liberty.  It  appealed  directly  to 
the  conscience  of  the  citizen.  But,  like  all  parties,  it 
was  a  political  agency,  not  to  be  worshipped,  but  to  be 


'174  CLEVELAND   AND  THE   INDEPENDENTS. 

carefully  held  to  the  spirit  and  purposes  on  which  and 
for  which  it  was  organized.  'I  do  not  know,'  said  Mr. 
Seward,  thirty  years  ago,  when  he  left  the  Whig  Party 
to  join  the  Republicans,  '  I  do  not  know  that  it  will  al- 
ways or  even  long  preserve  its  courage,  its  moderation, 
and  its  consistency.  If  it  shall  do  so,  it  will  secure  and 
save  the  country.  If  it  shall  become  unfaithful,  as  all 
preceding  parties  have  done,  it  will  without  sorrow  or  re- 
gret on  my  part  perish  as  they  are  perishing,  and  will 
give  place  to  another  truer  and  better  one.'  This  rea- 
soning must  not  be  forgotten.  It  is  with  profound  con- 
viction of  its  wisdom  that  Republicans  faithful  to  their 
party,  but  holding  with  the  great  Republican  fathers  that 
political  morality  and  purity  of  administration  are  more 
precious  than  party,  are  now  constrained  to  oppose  the 
Republican  Presidential  nomination  in  the  interest  of 
what  they  believe  to  be  pure  Republicanism,  the  public 
welfare,  and  the  honor  of  the  American  name. 

"  Upon  the  practical  questions  of  tariff  and  finance, 
and  other  questions  upon  which  both  parties  are  divided 
within  themselves,  we  also  are  divided  in  opinion.  We 
shall  vote,  therefore,  in  the  choice  of  representatives  and 
other  officers  according  to  our  individual  opinions  of  their 
political  views  and  their  personal  character.  Divided 
on  other  questions,  we  are  united  in  conviction  that  the 
fountain  of  office  and  honor  should  be  pure,  and  that  the 
highest  office  in  the  country  should  be  filled  by  a  man  of 


CLEVELAND   AND  THE  INDEPENDENTS.  175 

absolutely  unsuspected  integrity.  As  there  is  no  dis- 
tinctive issue  upon  public  policy  presented  for  the  con- 
sideration of  the  country,  the  character  of  the  candidates 
becomes  of  the  highest  importance  with  all  citizens  who 
do  not  hold  that  party  victory  should  be  secured  at  any 
cost.  While  the  Republican'  nomination  presents  a  can. 
didate  whom  we  cannot  support,  the  Democratic  Party 
presents  one  whose  name  is  the  synonym  of  political 
courage  and  honesty  and  administrative  reform.  He  has 
discharged  every  official  trust  with  sole  regard  to  the 
public  welfare,  and  with  just  disregard  of  mere  partisan 
and  personal  advantage,  which,  with  the  applause  and 
confidence  of  both  parties,  have  raised  him  from  the 
chief  executive  administration  of  a  great  city  to  that  of  a 
great  State. 

"  He  is  a  Democrat  who  is  happily  free  from  all  as- 
sociation with  the  fierce  party  differences  of  the  slavery 
contest,  and  whose  financial  views  are  in  harmorfy  with 
those  of  the  best  men  in  both  parties ;  and  coming  into 
public  prominence  at  a  time  when  official  purity,  courage, 
and  character  are  of  chief  importance,  he  presents  the 
qualities  and  the  promise  which  independent  voters  de- 
sire, and  which  a  great  body  of  Republicans,  believing 
those  qualities  to  be  absolutely  indispensable  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  government  at  this  time,  do  not  find 
in  the  candidate  of  their  own  party. 

"  Such  independent  voters  do  not  propose  to  ally  them- 


176  CLEVELAND   AND   THE    INDEPENDENTS. 

selves  inextricably  with  any  party.  Such  Republicans 
do  not  propose  to  abandon  the  Republican  Party  nor 
to  merge  themselves  in  any  other  party,  but  they  do  pro- 
pose to  aid  in  defeating  a  Republican  nomination  which, 
not  for  reasons  of  expediency  only,  but  for  high  moral 
and  patriotic  considerations,  with  a  due  regard  for  the 
Republican  name  and  for  the  American  character,  was 
unfit  to  be  made.  They  desire  not  to  evade  the  proper 
responsibility  of  American  citizens  by  declining  to  vote, 
and  they  desire  also  to  make  their  vote.-  as  elfective  as 
possible  for  honest  and  pure  and  wise  administration. 
How  can  such  voters  who  at  this  election  cannot  consci- 
entiously support  the  Republican  candidate  promote  the 
objects  which  they  desire  to  accomplish  more  surely  than 
by  supporting  the  candidate  who  represents  the  quali- 
ties, the  spirit,  and  the  purpose  which  they  all  agree  in 
believing  to  be  of  controlling  importance  in  this  election  ? 
No  citizen  can  rightfully  avoid  the  issue  or  refuse  to  cast 
his  vote.  The  ballot  is  a  trust.  Every  voter  is  a  trustee 
for  good  government,  bound  to  answer  to  his  private 
conscience  for  his  public  acts.  This  conference,  there- 
fore, assuming  that  Republicans  and  independent  voters 
who  for  any  reason  cannot  sustain  the  Republican  nomi- 
nation, desire  to  take  the  course  which,  under  the  neces- 
sary conditions  and  constitutional  methods  of  a  Presiden- 
tial election,  will  most  readily  and  surely  secure  the  result 
at  which  they  aim,  respectfully  recommends  to  all  such 


CLEVELAND  AND  THE   INDEPENDENTS.  177 

citizens  to  support  the  electors  who  will  vote  for  Grover 
Cleveland,  in  order  most  effectually  to  enforce  their  con- 
viction that  nothing  could  more  deeply  stain  the  Ameri- 
can name  and  prove  more  disastrous  to  the  public  welfare 
than  the  deliberate  indifference  of  the  people  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  to  increasing  public  corruption  and  to  the 
want  of  official  integrity  in  the  highest  trusts  of  the  gov- 
ernment." 

A   NATIONAL    COMMITTEE. 

Mr.  Horace  E.  Deming,  of  Brooklyn,  from  the  com- 
mittee to  map  out  the  work  to  be  done  after  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  Convention,  reported  the  following : 

"JResofoed,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  by  the  chair- 
man of  this  conference  to  conduct  the  present  campaign 
and  to  represent  the  organization  thereafter. 

"JKesolved,  That  this  committee  be  known  as  the  Na- 
tional Committee,  and  have  power  to  add  to  their  num- 
ber by  selecting  associates  from  the  various  States  taking 
part  in  this  movement." 

The  Chairman  appointed  the  following  as  the  National 
Committee : 

New  York — Carl  Schurz,  Theodore  Bacon,  John  H. 
Cowing,  Charles  P.  Miller,  R.  R.  Bowker,  George  W. 
Folsom,  Ethan  Allan  Doty,  George  Walton  Green,  and 
Horace  E.  Deming. 

Massachusetts — William  H.  Forbes,  Joseph  Tucker, 


178  CLEVELAND   AND   THE   INDEPENDENTS. 

Joseph  H.  Walker,  Samuel  Hoar,  Phineas  Pierce,  George 
Y.  Leverett,  and  Winslow  Warren. 

Connecticut — Simeon  E.  Baldwin^  C.  P.  Armstrong, 
and  H.  W.  Farnam. 

New  Jersey — Daniel  Drake  Smith,  Simeon  Hunting- 
ton,  and  W.  G.  Peckham. 

Pennsylvania — Francis  B.  Reeves,  Stuart  Wood,  and 
Joseph  Parrish. 

Illinois— T.  J.  Claflin. 

The  National  Committee  of  Forty  met  immediately  at 
the  close  of  the  conference,  with  Horace  E.  Demiug,  of 
New  York,  in  the  chair.  Reports  were  received  from 
the  members  for  the  States  of  Massachusetts,  Pennsyl- 
vania, New  York,  Connecticut,  New  Jersey,  and  Illinois 
as  to  the  position  of  affairs  in  those  States.  It  was  re- 
solved to  organize  at  once  in  all  these  States,  and  to 
make  an  aggressive  campaign,  especially  in  the  States  of 
Massachusetts,  New  York,  Connecticut,  and  New  Jersey, 
where  very  hopeful  prospects  were  reported. 


CHAPTER  X. 


CLEVELAND'S    PERSONAL    CHARACTERIS- 
TICS AND  HOME  LIFE. 

Grover  Cleveland's  Personal  Appearance. — His  Pictures  seldom  do 
him  Justice. — A  Man  of  "  the  Old  School." — Cleveland  in  Society. — 
His  Bachelor  Apartments. — His  Simple  Tastes  and  Habits  in  Buffalo. 
— Not  Penurious  and  not  Rich. — His  Free  Work  for  Poor  Clients. — 
Prosperity  has  not  Changed  him. — His  Old  Friends  in  Buffalo  and 
Holland  Patent. — His  Strong  Traits  predominate. — His  Brothers  and 
Sisters. — The  Family  Characteristics  in  a  Disaster  at  Sea. — At  the 
Executive  Mansion. — The  Governor's  Democratic  Simplicity. — His 
Immense  Mail,  his  Numerous  Callers,  and  his  Seat  in  Church. 

In  personal  appearance  Governor  Cleveland  is  not 
usually  well  represented  in  his  published  portraits,  and 
his  face  is  free  from  the  stern,  bull-dog  look  which  the 
wood-cuts  give  him.  He  has  a  pleasant  cast  of  counte- 
nance and  is  a  winning  talker.  He  is  tall,  stoutly  built, 
weighing  more  than  two  hundred  pounds,  has  dark  brown 
hair,  clear,  keen  eyes,  and  a  firm  and  dignified  expression. 
His  manner  is  so  curt  and  brusque  that  he  often  offends 
those  who  speak  with  him  for  the  first  time ;  but  the 


180      PERSONAL  CHARACTERISTICS   AND  HOME  LIFE. 

longer  he  is  known  the  more  he  is  respected  and  admired. 
He  does  not  wear  his  heart  upon  his  sleeve,  but  under  his 
stern  demeanor  he  conceals  a  kindly  and  charitable  nature. 
One  of  his  most  intimate  friends  characteristically  de- 
fines him  as  "  an  up-and-up  man.''  Everybody  who  has 
ever  had  any  dealings  with  him  is  aware  that  he  means 
precisely  what  he  says  and  says  exactly  what  he  means. 
In  appearance  no  less  than  in  character  he  is  one  of  the 
old  Continental  school  of  politicians,  and  in  him  we  have 
a  reminder  of  what  strong,  brave,  honest,  resolute  men 
our  forefathers  were  who  founded  this  Republic. 


CLEVELAND   IN    SOCIETY. 

He  loves  congenial  companionship  and  is  a  pleasant 
conversationalist,  thoroughly  capable  of  entertaining  a 
company  of  any  character,  and  it  is  said  in  Buffalo  that 
he  was  always  much  courted  in  society,  but  could  rarely 
be  induced  to  enter  the  charmed  circle. 

He  is  a  bachelor,  and  all  his  love-affairs  but  one  have 
been  of  the  platonic  kind,  it  is  said,  and  some  of  his 
friends  think  he  has  been  incapable  of  falling  deeply  in 
love  since  he  became  a  lawyer  in  1859.  It  is  intimated 
that  he  became  enamored  of  a  beautiful  young  woman 
who  was  a  relative  of  the  late  Judge  Yerplanck.  Six- 
was  quite  a  flirt  and  delighted  to  tantalize  him  by  per- 
mitting other  young  men  to  escort  her  home  from  the 


PERSONAL  CHARACTERISTICS   AND   HOME  LIFE.       181 

old   Eao-le   Street  Theatre,  which  was  then  almost  the 

O  * 

only  place  of  amusement  in  Buffalo.  The  girl  was  com- 
paratively wealthy  and  at  first  looked  down  on  Grover, 
but  afterward  they  were  engaged  to  be  married.  When 
she  was  taken  ill  with  a  fever  and  died,  Cleveland  did 
not  recover  from  the  shock  for  several  months,  and, 
although  he  likes  the  society  of  women,  his  friends  say 
that  he  will  never  marry. 

HIS   BACHELOR    APARTMENTS. 

A  newspaper  correspondent  who  visited  Buffalo  to  ob- 
tain information  of  Cleveland's  life  in  that  city  wrote : 
"  I  looked  into  his  law-offices  on  Main  Street.  They 
were  curiously  solid  and  unpretentious,  and  upstairs 
were  the  bachelor  rooms  where  for  years  Grover  Cleveland 
had  slept  and  worked.  I  examined  them  minutely,  for  one 
often  obtains  a  glimpse  of  character  by  such  entourage. 
And  they  were  instantly  indicative  of  the  simple  tastes, 
methodical  habits,  and  studious  life  of  the  occupant.  Two 
or  three  pictures,  evidently  selected  not  for  decoration, 
but  because  the  owner  prized  the  subject  and  admired 
the  treatment,  hung  on  the  walls.  But  there  was  else- 
where not  a  superfluous  article  in  the  room.  Elegance 
had  been  forgotten  in  the  successful  attempt  to  secure 
comfort  and  convenience  and  seclusion." 

The  gossip  is  that  he  never  had  any  other  place  of 


182      PERSONAL  CHARACTERISTICS  AND   HOME  LIFE. 

residence  after  he  began  to  practise.  He  spent  his  even- 
ings in  his  law  library  or  in  the  company  of  his  bachelor 
friends  at  the  City  Club  or  the  Buffalo  Club,  on  Dela- 
ware Avenue.  He  took  his  meals  at  Mrs.  (i;u 
boarding-house,  with  the  added  luxury  of  a  Sunday  morn- 
ing breakfast  at  the  Terrapin  Lunch,  a  plain  restaurant 
where  a  good  meal  can  be  had  at  a  modest  price. 

But  although  his  style  of  life  was  very  simple  he  is 
not  penurious.  His  reputation  is  not  that  of  a  money- 
getter  and  money-saver.  Had  he  been  ambitious  in  this 
direction  he  could  and  would  have  been  a  rich  man,  his 
friends  say,  he  is  not  a  rich  man,  in  spite  of  his  frugal 
bachelor  habits.  He  did  much  free  legal  work  for  poor 
clients,  and  had  a  way  of  assisting  them  which,  although 
creditable  to  him,  did  not  put  money  in  his  purse.  He 
was  a  liberal  benefactor  of  the  charities  of  Buffalo. 

Judge-Advocate-General  King  says  of  his  visit  to 
Buffalo,  shortly  before  the  Chicago  Convention  :  "  While 
there  I  saw  the  Governor.  "What  do  you  think  he  said 
when  he  learned  that  I  was  bound  for  Chicago  ?  He  told 
me  that  I  had  better  go  back  to  New  York  and  quietly 
attend  to  my  own  business.  He  was  so  sensitive  that  lie 
could  not  bear  to  have  friends  working  for  him.  I  never 
saw  such  a  man.  While  I  was  there  we  dined  together 
at  Gerot's,  which  is  about  four  blocks  from  his  office.  It 
took  us  half  an  hour  to  get  there.  I  never  saw  a  man 
stopped  so  many  times  on  the  street  by  people  who 


PERSONAL  CHARACTERISTICS  AND   HOME  LIFE.       183 

wanted  to  shake  his  hand  and  say  '  How  d'ye  do  ? '  This 
was  before  the  nomination,  mind  you.  What  must  it  be 
now?" 

Governor  Cleveland  has  the  confidence  and  respect  of 
everybody  in  Buffalo,  it  is  said,  except  a  few  ward-poli- 
ticians whom  he  disappointed.  His  prosperity  has  not 
changed  him.  He  is  essentially  a  man  of  the  people,  and 
looks  on  all  men  as  equal.  As  Mayor  of  Buffalo  or  Gov- 
ernor of  New  York  he  was  the  same  among  his  friends. 
.While  a  law-student  he  spent  a  brief  vacation  at  Holland 
Patent  and  the  people  of  that  village  know  him  as  a 
man  and  for  him  they  all  have  a  kindly  word.  The  news 
of  his  nomination  was  joyfully  received  there,  and  many 
an  old-time  Republican  participated  in  the  demonstra- 
tions of  satisfaction. 


HIS   STRONG   TRAITS. 

Warm  as  the  friendships  of  Cleveland  undoubtedly  are, 
the  strong  traits  of  character,  which  appeal  to  respect 
more  than  to  affection,  undoubtedly  predominate  in  him. 
Says  one  who  has  known  him  from  boyhood :  "  Grover 
won  our  admiration  by  his  three  traits  of  indomitable 
industry,  unpretentious  courage,  and  unswerving  honesty. 
I  never  saw  a  more  thorough  man  at  anything  he  under- 
took. Whatever  the  subject  was,  he  was  reticent  until 
he  had  mastered  all  its  bearings  and  made  up  his  own 


184     PERSONAL  CHARACTERISTICS  AND   HOME   LIFE. 

mind,  and  then  nothing  could  swerve  him  from  his  con- 
viction. It  was  this  quality  of  intellectual  integrity  more 
than  anything  else,  perhaps,  that  made  him  afterwards 
listened  to  and  respected  when  more  brilliant  men  who 
were  opposed  to  him  were  applauded  and  forgotten." 


HIS   FAMILY   FKIENDS. 

The  nine  children  of  the  Cleveland  family  in  the  order 
of  their  ages  are  :  Mrs.  Hastings,  who  married  a  mission- 
ary to  the  Island  of  Ceylon ;  Eev.  "William  Cleveland, 
who  is  now  preaching  with  great  acceptance  in  the 
village  of  Forestport ;  Grover  Cleveland,  Governor  of 
New  York  and  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  of  the 
United  States  ;  Kichard  Cecil  Cleveland,  who  was  lost  at 
the  burning  of  the  ship  Missouri,  off  the  Island  of  Abaco, 
October  22d,  1872 ;  Mrs.  Hoyt,  whose  husband  was  for- 
merly of  Theresa,  but  is  now  a  business-man  in  Fayette- 
ville ;  Mrs.  Louisa  Bacon,  a  most  amiable  and  attractive 
lady,  whose  husband  is  an  architect  in  Toledo,  O.;  Lewis 
Frederick  Cleveland,  who  had  marked  ability  as  a  busi- 
ness-man. He  was,  moreover,  a  jovial  and  wonderfullv 
agreeable  gentleman,  who  made  friends  wherever  he 
went.  He  leased  a  large  boarding-house  at  Nassau  and 
made  it  very  popular.  Frederick  was  drowned  with  his 
brother  at  the  burning  of  the  Missouri.  Mrs.  Snsan  You- 
mans  lives  at  "Walrntli,  Wayne  County.  Her  husband 


PERSONAL   CHARACTERISTICS    AND    HOME   LIFE.       185 

has  represented  his  district  in  the  State  Legislature.  He 
is  now  a  heavy  owner  of  Holstein  stock.  Miss  Elizabeth 
Cleveland  remains  at  the  old  homestead,  but  she  is  often 
the  guest  of  her  brother  in  Albany.  ^Miss  Cleveland  is  a 
talented  lady  and  has  ability  as  a  writer. 

Grover  seems  to  have  assumed  more  than  any  other 
member  of  the  family  the  care  of  his  mother  and  sisters 
after  the  death  of  his  father,  and  his  relations  to  the  sur- 
vivors of  the  family  are  peculiar.  All  the  children  were 
educated  in  a  strict  school,  and  are  well  grounded  in  a 
sense  of  right  and  justice,  the  mother  having  been  as 
severe  a  disciplinarian  as  the  father.  She  evidently  never 
withheld  good  advice,  for  after  Grover  was  elected 
Mayor  of  Buffalo  she  wrote  him  saying  what  her  am- 
bitions were  for  him,  and  concluding  as  follows  :  "  But 
now  that  you  have  taken  upon  yourself  the  burdens  of 
public  office  do  right,  act  honestly,  impartially,  and  fear- 
lessly." 

One  who  knew  the  family  well  says  of  the  two 
brothers  who  "were  lost  at  sea:  "  Their  action  at  the  burn- 
ing of  the  ship  was  characteristic  of  the  whole  family. 
When  the  ship  caught  fire  there  was  a  panic  among  the 
passengers.  The  officers  of  the  vessel  were  incompetent 
and  as  frightened  as  the  rest.  Amid  the  confusion  Cecil 
found  his  brother  Fred,  and  together  they  stood  by  wljen 
the  boats  were  lowered  and  helped  the  terror-stricken 
passengers  into  them,  doing  the  work  the  recreant  cap- 


186      PERSONAL  CHARACTERISTICS   AND   HOME   LIFE. 

tain  should  have  done.  "When  the  boats  were  filled  there 
was  no  room  for  them,  and  together  they  went  down." 

AT   THE   EXECUTIVE   MANSION. 

On  the  day  before  his  inauguration  as  Governor, 
Cleveland  came  from  Buffalo  with  his  law-partner,  Mr. 
Bissell,  went  to  the  Executive  Mansion  and  spent  the 
nio-ht.  On  the  morrow  the  Governor-elect  walked  from 

^* 

the  Executive  Mansion  in  company  with  his  friend  to  the 
Capitol,  which  is  a  mile  distant.  He  entered  the  build- 
ing unrecognized,  sauntered  to  the  Executive  Chamber 
and  was  there  met  by  Governor  Cornell.  The  moment 
the  inaugural  ceremony  was  over  he  passed  into  the 
spacious  Executive  Chamber,  ordered  the  doors  opened  to 
admit  anybody,  and  went  to  work. 

Says  a  newspaper  correspondent :  "  His  habits  are 
methodical  and  industrious.  He  walks  from  the  Ex- 
ecutive Mansion  every  morning  at  nine  o'clock  to  the 
Capitol  and  goes  to  work.  At  1.30  he  walks  back  to 
his  lunch,  which  takes  an  hour.  He  then  returns  on 
foot  to  work  again,  and  remains  until  six,  when  he  goes 
to  dinner.  He  is  back  at  eight,  and  generally  stays  until 
eleven  or  twelve.  He  keeps  no  horses  or  extra  servants, 
and  has  not  been  known  to  ride  since  he  has  been  at  Al- 
bany, except  for  an  occasional  pleasure-jaunt.  The  amount 
of  work  thus  accomplished — as  his  private  secretary,  Mr. 
Daniel  S.  Lamont,  testifies — is  something  enormous." 


PERSONAL   CHARACTERISTICS   AND   HOME   LIFE.       187 
THE   GOVERNOR   AFTER  THE   NOMINATION. 

Governor  Cleveland  is  fond  enough  of  sport  to  pro- 
voke an  old  friend  to  say :  "  He  was  a  good  shot,  just  as 
he  was  good  at  whatever  he  undertook."  But  since  his 
nomination  for  the  Presidency  his  cares  have  increased, 
and  he  has  seldom  been  absent  from  his  post.  His  mail 
has  become  immense,  and  his  callers  are  so  numerous  that 
he  is  kept  standing  near  his  desk  most  of  the  time.  The 
humblest  man  or  woman  is  admitted  to  his  presence  as 
readily  as  the  highest,  and  he  greets  all  comers  with  the 
cheery  good-nature  and  pleasant  smile  which  are  charac- 
teristic of  him.  ISTo  ceremony  of  introduction  is  observed. 
The  Governor  spends  more  time  in  the  Executive  Cham- 
ber than  ever  before,  but  he  is  able  to  attend  to  business 
only  at  intervals.  On  Sundays  he  attends  the  Fourth 
Presbyterian  Church,  where  he  has  a  pew  and  has  been 
a  regular  attendant  since  his  arrival  at  Albany. 


CHAPTER   XL 


CLEVELAND  AND  HIS  FRIENDS  IN  THE 
CAMPAIGN. 

Grover  Cleveland  Judged  from  the  Character  of  His  Friends. — 
His  Serenade  Speech  to  Albany  Friends  at  the  Executive  Mansion. 
— His  Buffalo  Friends  Proud  of  him  and  his  Honors. — The  Best 
Men  of  his  Party. — Congratulations  from  "a  Democratic  War- 
horse." — Cleveland  and  his  Irish  Friends.— Ex-Senator  Kernan, 
Father  McGlynn,  Daniel  Dougherty,  and  the  Boston  Pilot. — Cleve- 
land and  his  German  Friends. — The  Power  of  the  German  Vote. — 
Cleveland  and  his  Soldier-Friends. — Cleveland  and  his  Managers. 
— Friends  of  the  Press. — Cleveland's  Friends  the  "Bolters."— 
Their  High  Character  and  Great  Influence. — Timid  Friends  Reas- 
sured.— Scandal  in  the  Campaign. — Cleveland  "  a  Man  of  Destiny." 

A  man  may  be  judged  from  the  character  of  his 
friends ;  and  in  the  study  of  the  career  of  Grover  Cleve- 
land a  glance  at  the  followers  attracted  by  him  in  his 
campaign  for  the  Presidency  will  have  value.  "When  first 
informed  of  his  nomination  at  Chicago  he  immediately 
said  :  "  Go  over  and  tell  sister.  She  will  be  glad  to  hear 
it."  The  friends  of  his  own  family  were  more  delighted 


CLEVELAND  AND   HIS   FRIENDS   IN  THE   CAMPAIGN.    189 

than  himself  by  the  honor  bestowed  upon  him,  and 
their  assistance  relieved  him  of  many  of  the  social  cares 
of  his  position  from  the  beginning  of  the  campaign. 

HIS    SERENADE    SPEECH. 

His  own  feelings  and  the  friendly  regard  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Albany  were  expressed  at  a  serenade  on  the  eve- 
ning of  his  nomination.  In  response  to  an  address  he 
said : 

"  FELLOW-CITIZENS  :  I  cannot  but  be  gratified  with 
this  kindly  greeting.  I  find  that  I  am  fast  reaching 
the  point  where  I  shall  count  the  people  of  Albany  not 
merely  as  fellow-citizens,  but  as  townsmen  and  neigh- 
bors. On  this  occasion  I  am,  of  course,  aware  that  you 
pay  no  compliment  to  a  citizen,  and  present  no  personal 
tribute,  but  that  you  have  come  to  demonstrate  your 
loyalty  and  devotion  to  a  cause  in  which  you  are  heartily 
enlisted.  The  American  people  are  about  to  exercise, 
in  its  highest  sense,  their  power  and  right  of  sovereignty. 
They  are  to  call  in  review  before  them  their  public 
servants  and  the  representatives  of  political  parties,  and 
demand  of  them  an  account  of  their  stewardship.  Par- 
ties may  be  so  long  in  power  and  may  become  so  arro- 
gant and  careless  of  the  interests  of  the  people  as  to 
grow  heedless  of  their  responsibility  to  their  masters; 
but  the  time  comes  as  certainly  as  death  when  the  peo- 
ple weigh  them  in  the  balance.  The  issues  to  be  adju- 


190  CLEVELAND   AND   HIS   FEIENDS  IN  THE  CAMPAIGN. 

dicated  by  the  nation's  great  assize  are  made  up,  and 
are  about  to  be  submitted.  We  believe  that  the  people 
are  not  receiving,  at  the  hands  of  the  party  which  for 
nearly  twenty  years  has  directed  the  affairs  of  the  nation, 
the  full  benefits  to  which  they  are  entitled,  of  a  pure, 
just,  and  economical  rule,  and  we  believe  that  the  as- 
cendency of  genuine  Democratic  principles  will  insure 
a  better  government  and  greater  happiness  and  pros- 
perity to  all  the  people.  To  reach  the  sober  thought  of 
the  Nation,  and  to  dislodge  an  enemy  entrenched  behind 
spoils  and  patronage,  involves  a  struggle  which,  if  we 
underestimate,  we  invite  defeat.  I  am  profoundly  im- 
pressed with  the  responsibility  of  the  part  assigned  to 
me  in  this  contest.  My  heart,  I  know,  is  in  the  cause, 
and  I  pledge  you  that  no  effort  of  mine  shall  be  want- 
ing to  secure  the  victory  which  I  believe  to  be  within 
the  achievement  of  the  Democratic  hosts.  Let  us  enter 
on  the  campaign,  now  fairly  opened,  each  one  appreciat- 
ing well  the  part  he  has  to  perform,  ready,  with  solid 
front,  to  do  battle  for  better  government — confidently, 
courageously,  always  honorably,  and  with  a  firm  reliance 
upon  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  the  American 
people." 

CLEVELAND   AND    HIS    BUFFALO   FEIENDS. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  Cleveland's  cor- 
dial relations  in  Buffalo.     The  Boston  Herald  of  July 


STREET  SCENE  AT  NIGHT  IN  BUFFALO,  GROVER  CLEVELAND'S  HOME, 
ON  RECEIPT  OF  THE  NEWS  OF  HIS  NOMINATION. 


CLEVELAND   AND  HIS   FRIENDS  IN  THE   CAMPAIGN.    191 

16th  said :  "  The  city  of  Buffalo,  which  knows  Grover 
Cleveland  the  best,  respects  and  trusts  him  the  most.  No 
Presidential  candidate  was  ever  held  in  higher  esteem  in 
the  place  of  his  residence  than  the  Democratic  nominee 
enjoys  in  the  city  where  all  of  his  mature  years  have  been 
spent.  "Without  distinction  of  party,  nationality,  profes- 
sion, occupation^  or  rank,  the  citizens  of  Buffalo  regard 
Grover  Cleveland  as  an  honest  and  upright  man,  clear  in 
his  convictions  and  strong  in  the  courage  of  them,  of 
great  executive  ability,  and  capable  and  honorable  in 
every  relation  of  life." 

Said  an  old  resident :  "  Never  in  the  history  of  Buffalo 
has  there  in  a  Presidential  campaign  been  so  much  enthu- 
siasm. Governor  Cleveland  seems  to  have  captured  his 
adopted  city  by  storm.  On  the  day  of  his  nomination 
Buffalo  had  a  spontaneous  uprising." 

In  the  evening  of  that  day  the  city  was  red  with  the 
glare  of  fireworks,  an  almost  endless  procession,  with 
banners  and  music,  paraded  the  principal  thoroughfares, 
and  men  of  both  parties  engaged  in  the  demonstration.. 

About  all  Buffalo  turned  out  for  an  ovation  to  the 
Chicago  delegates  on  their  return,  and  two  Republican 
addresses  of  that  occasion  indicate  the  enthusiasm  of 
Cleveland's  friends  of  his  own  city  in  his  support. 

Maurice  Courtney  said:  "I  have  known  the  choice  of 
the  Democratic  Convention  for  more  than  twenty-five 
years,  and  I  cannot  refrain  from  saying  a  word  or  two 


192  CLEVELAND   AND   HIS   FRIENDS   IN  THE   CAMPAIGN. 

in  his  behalf.  I  knew  Grover  Cleveland  when  he  was 
studying  law  in  this  city,  and  in  all  his  relations  found 
him  the  same  modest,  retiring,  unassuming  man." 

Dr.  Storck,  known  as  a  Republican  for  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  said:  "It  may  be  considered  inap- 
propriate to  many  that  I  should  join  in  this  demonstra- 
tion over  the  nomination  of  a  candidate  for  the  Presi- 
dency of  the  United  States  by  the  Democratic  Conven- 
tion at  Chicago,  but,  my  fellow-citizens,  if  it  was  only  on 
the  score  of  local  pride  I  should  appear  here  to-night. 
Every  citizen  of  Buffalo,  no  matter  what  his  antecedents 
politically,  should  feel  proud  of  the  honor  conferred  upon 
the  city.  Why  has  this  distinguished  honor  been  con- 
ferred ?  It  was  for  reason  of  Cleveland's  fearless  course 
in  the  path  of  reform,  his  honesty  of  purpose,  and  his 
high  conduct  as  Governor  of  the  Sate  of  New  York." 

The  scenes  and  the  speeches  following  the  announce- 
ment of  the  ticket  for  the  Democratic  canvass  of  1884: 
will  never  be  forgotten  by  many  in  Buffalo. 

THE    BEST    MEN    OF    HIS    PARTY. 

The  best  men  of  Cleveland's  party  were  especially 
delighted  with  his  nomination  at  Chicago.  "  Favored 
by  the  right-thinking  elements  of  both  the  Democratic 
and  Republican  parties,"  was  the  expression  used  by 
a  celebrated  metropolitan  journalist  to  describe  the  posi- 


CLEVELAND  AND  HIS   FRIENDS  IN  THE   CAMPAIGN.   193 

tion  of  the  candidate.  Hon.  Erastus  Brooks,  who,  in 
an  open  letter  to  his  Staten  Island  constituents,  com- 
mended Governor  Cleveland  as  possessing  honesty,  capa- 
city, and  fidelity,  was  the  representative  of  the  most 
high-minded  Democrats  in  that  action. 

Judge  Amasa  J.  Parker,  of  Albany,  a  Democratic 
war-horse  whose  opinions  have  great  weight,  in  the  fol- 
lowing communication  expressed  the  feelings  of  the  best 
element  of  his  party  as  to  the  prospect  of  reform 
through  the  elevation  of  Cleveland  to  the  Presidency  : 

"  SUBF  HOTEL,  FIRE  ISLAND,  July  12th,  1884. 

"  To  His  Excellency  Governor  Cleveland. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIB  :  From  this  quiet  nook,  where  I  am 
seeking  rest,  I  send  my  sincere  congratulations,  not 
simply  because  you  are  nominated,  but  because  you  owe 
that  nomination  to  the  conviction  pervading  the  minds 
of  the  people  that  you  can  be  relied  on  to  bring  to  the 
discharge  of  high  duties  the  honesty  and  unyielding 
purpose  which  are  indispensable  to  secure  much-needed 
reforms  and  to  correct  long-existing  abuses.  I  am  glad 
the  occasion  has  come  for  this  great  struggle  while  I  still 
have  strength  of  body  and  mind  to  share  in  the  labors  of 
the  conflict,  and,  with  sincere  regard, 

"  I  am  very  truly  yours, 

"AMASA  J.  PAKKEB." 


194  CLEVELAND   AND   HIS   FRIENDS   IN  THE  CAMPAIGN. 
CLEVELAND   AND    HIS   IRISH   FRIENDS. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  campaign,  predictions  were 
made  that  many  Irish  voters  would  "  bolt,"  but  conspic- 
uous Irish  leaders  immediately  declared  their  adherence 
to  Cleveland.  Ex-Senator  Kernan,  of  New  York,  for- 
merly Roscoe  Conkling's  law-partner  in  Utica,  was  one 
of  the  first,  and  he  said  : 

"  We  had  to  nominate  a  man  who  could  carry  New 
York  State,  and  Mr.  Cleveland,  in  my  rnind,  is  the  only 
man  who  can  do  it.  His  record,  though  a  brief  one,  is 
one  that  we  of  New  York  State  are  proud  of.  He  has 
been  the  Governor  of  the  Empire  State,  not  of  any  sec- 
tion or  body  of  men,  but  of  all  and  for  all.  The  charge 
has  been  presented  against  him  by  certain  parties  that  as 
Governor  he  has  opposed  the  Catholics  and  their  Church. 
Does  the  record  support  this  ?  No,  sir  ;  in  no  way.  In 
fact,  they  might  have  charged  just  the  opposite,  for,  as  is 
well  known,  he  appointed  three  Catholics  to  the  three 
highest-salaried  offices  in  the  gift  of  the  Governor,  one  of 
which  was  the  Superintendent  of  Public  "Works,  a  most 
important  office,  the  others  the  Superintendent  of  the 
State  Insurance  Department  and  President  of  the  Rail- 
road Commission.  Does  this  look  like  holding  the 
Catholics  back?  Have  not  the  papers  published  long 
interviews  with  the  most  prominent  members  of  the 
Catholic  clergy  and  laity,  who  stated  in  plainest  terms 


CLEVELAND   AND  HIS  FRIENDS  IN  THE   CAMPAIGN.    195 

that  they  never  knew  of  Governor  Cleveland  doing  an 
unfair  act  toward  the  Catholic  Church  or  its  members  ? 
Again,  we  have  the  confidence  of  the  business  commu- 
nity. They  believe  in  Cleveland,  and  they  will  vote  for 
him.  Of  my  own  knowledge,  there  are  men  who  have 
not  taken  any  interest  in  politics  for  years  who  are  so 
well  pleased  with  the  course  pursued  by  Mr.  Cleveland 
that  they  will  support  him  earnestly  at  the  polls.  Cleve- 
land may  lose  the  Tammany  vote,  but  where  he  loses 
one  vote  there  he  will,  in  my  opinion,  gain  two,  if  not 
three,  from  other  sources.  I  have  looked  at  this  matter 
fairly,  and  am  assured  of  the  success  of  the  Democratic 
Party  at  the  polls  next  November." 

Father  McGlynu,  of  St.  Stephen's  Church,  one  of  the 
oiost  influential  of  metropolitan  priests,  said :  "  Person- 
ally and  as  a  citizen  I  rejoice  in  his  nomination  because 
I  believe  it  in  the  interest  of  good,  pure,  simple,  and 
honest  government,  and  therefore  for  the  good  of  the 
whole  people.  As  a  clergyman  I  recognize  the  duty  of 
carefully  avoiding  even  the  appearance  of  abusing  the  in- 
fluence of  my  sacred  calling  in  the  interest  of  partisan 
politics.  But  just  because  I  am  a  Catholic  clergyman  I 
feel  it  to  be  my  right  and  duty  to  denounce  the  crime  and 
folly  of  those  who  abuse  the  sacred  name  of  religion  by 
saying  that  the  Catholics,  as  such,  will  oppose  the  Gov- 
ernor." 

Daniel   Dougherty,    the   "silver-tongued   orator"  of 


196   CLEVELAND   AND   HIS   FKIENDS   IN   THE   CAMPAIGN. 

Pennsylvania,  who  nominated  General  Hancock  for  Presi- 
dent at  Cincinnati  in  1880,  said :  "  I  have  the  personal  as- 
surance of  eminent  men  that  Governor  Cleveland  is  free 
from  all  prejudice  against  the  Catholics  of  this  country. 
We  Roman  Catholics  do  not  expect  a  President  to  violate 
any  constitutional  claims  to  oblige  us,  and  we  would  be 
unworthy  of  our  faith  if  we  asked  for  any  favors  not 
consistent  with  constitutional  obligations." 

The  Boston  Pilot,  John  Boyle  O'Reilly's  well-known 
Roman  Catholic  organ,  which  opposed  Cleveland's  nomi- 
nation, said :  "  We  opposed  the  nomination  of  Cleveland 
the  candidate ;  we  shall  faithfully  and  earnestly  work  for 
the  election  of  Cleveland  the  Democratic  standard-bearer. 
We  say  to  Mr.  Blaine  now  that  had  he  been  a  defender  of 
the  rights  of  naturalized  citizens  when  those  citizens  were 
flung  into  foreign  prisons,  untried  and  uncharged,  the 
Pilot  would  support  him  to-day,  and  a  million  Americans 
of  the  Irish  race  would  vote  for  him  in  November.  But 
he  did  not  do  it,  and  his  pretensions  of  fair  play  and 
friendship  now  are  sheer  humbug." 

Several  Tammany  sachems  promptly  declared  their 
support,  and  Mr.  Hendricks,  the  candidate  for  Vice- 
President,  confidently  expressed  the  opinion  that  his 
friend  John  Kelly  would  not  oppose  his  election  for  the 
sake  of  defeating  Cleveland,  were  there  no  other  con- 
sideration to  induce  the  Tammany  chieftain  to  lead  Irish 
voters  for  the  Democratic  ticket. 


CLEVELAND   AND   HIS   FKIENDS   IN   THE   CAMPAIGN.    197 
CLEVELAND   AND    HIS   GERMAN   FRIENDS. 

The  Germans  heartily  rejoiced  when  they  heard  that 
Cleveland  was  a  candidate,  and  many  German  Republi- 
cans declared  that  they  would  not  vote  for  Elaine.  Dr. 
Edward  Storck,  one  of  the  most  influential  German  He- 
publicans  in  Buffalo,  a  physician  of  fine  reputation  and 
one  of  the  best  political  speakers  in  his  city,  expressed  the 
opinion  that  "the  mass  of  German  Republicans  of  Buf- 
falo will  swing  into  line  and  support  Grover  Cleveland, 
the  Democratic  candidate  for  the  Presidency."  He  also 
expressed  the  satisfaction  of  his  people  because  the  Dem- 
ocratic party  recognized  the  German  element  in  its  na- 
tional councils.  The  honor  of  temporary  chairman  was 
tendered  to  a  distinguished  German,  ex-Governor  Muller 
of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  the  New  York  convention 
chose  as  elector-at-large  a  representative  of  the  German 
element. 

A  very  influential  German  Republican  of  Brooklyn 
said  :  "I  have  the  best  of  reasons  for  believing  that  my 
views  are  the  same  as  those  of  a  large  majority  of  the  in- 
telligent German  voters  of  the  United  States,  irrespective 
of  parties.  The  opposition  of  German  voters  to  Blaine 
will  be  strongest  in  New  York,  Ohio,  Illinois,  and  Indi- 
ana, and  I  believe  will  prove  fatal  to  his  candidacy." 
,  The  German  vote  is  so  much  greater  than  the  Irish 
that  Cleveland's  gain  of  German  support  was  believed 


]9S   CLEVELAND   AND   HIS   FRIENDS   IN   THE   CAMPAIGN. 

by  his  friends  to  more  than  offset  any  defection  of  Irish 
voters,  even  if  the  exaggerated  estimates  of  the  Elaine 
men  were  accepted. 


CLEVELAND   AND   HIS    SOLDIER-FRIENDS. 

The  story  of  Cleveland's  agreement  with  his  two 
brothers  to  care  for  their  mother  and  sisters  while  they 
served  in  the  war  for  the  Union  produced  a  deep  im- 
pression, and  his  interest  in  the  military  service,  evinced 
as  Governor  in  his  inaugural  message,  elicited  a  response 
of  friendly  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  National  Guard. 
The  Governor's  unexpected  visits  to  the  New  York  en- 
campment at  Peekskill  soon  after  his  nomination  in- 
creased the  friendship,  as  it  was  known  that  he  must 
have  had  much  difficulty  in  leaving  his  personal  inter- 
ests at  Albany.  Accompanied  by  his  sisters,  Mrs.  Iloyt, 
Mrs.  Folsom  and  Miss  Folsom,  of  Buffalo,  and  Adjutant- 
General  Farnsworth  and  Mrs.  Farnsworth,  he  devoted  a 
whole  day  to  the  review  and  reception  at  each  visit. 

While  Mayor  of  Buffalo  he  vetoed  a  bill  appropriat- 
ing public  money  for  a  soldiers'  monument,  and  he  did 
it  on  the  ground  that  the  City  Council  had  no  right  to 
appropriate  public  funds  for  a  purpose  of  that  kind, 
but  he  suggested  a  public  subscription,  and  the  first  and 
largest  subscriber  was  Mayor  Cleveland.  As  Governor 
of  New  York  he  approved  a  bill  providing  that  the 


CLEVELAND   AND   HIS   FRIENDS   IN  THE   CAMPAIGN.    199 

heads  of  the  various  State  departments  shall,  when 
making  appointments,  give  preference  to  honorably 
discharged  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  United  States,  and 
his  acts  have  demonstrated  his  interest  in  both  the 
veterans  of  the  war  and  in  the  National  Guard. 


CLEVELAND   AND    HIS   MANAGERS. 

When  the  Democratic  National  Committee  met  at  the 
Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  New  York,  on  July  24th,  to 
organize  for  the  campaign,  Texas  and  Nevada  were  the 
only  States,  and  Dakota,  New  Mexico,  Utah,  and 
"Wyoming  the  only  Territories  failing  to  answer  to  roll- 
call. 

The  Committee  was  composed  as  follows  :  Alabama, 
Henry  C.  Semple  ;  Arkansas,  S.  "W.  Fordyce  ;  Califor- 
nia, JVI.  F.  Tarpey  ;  Colorado,  M.  S.  Waller ;  Connecti- 
cut, W.  II.  Barn  um  ;  Delaware,  Ignatius  C.  Grubb ; 
Florida,  Samuel  Pasco ;  Georgia,  Patrick  Walsh  ;  Illi- 
nois, S.  Corning  Jndd  ;  Indiana,  Austin  H.  Brown ; 
Iowa,  M.  M.  Ham  ;  Kansas,  C.  W.  Blair ;  Kentucky, 
Henry  Y.  McIIenry  ;  Louisiana,^.  F.  Jonas;  Maine, 
Edmund  Wilson  ;  Maryland,  A.  P.  Gorman  ;  Massa- 
chusetts, Frederick  O.  Prince  ;  Michigan,  Don  M.  Dick- 
inson ;  Minnesota,  H.  H.  Kelly ;  Missouri,  John  G. 
Pratlier  ;  Mississippi,  C.  A.  Johnson  ;  Nebraska,  James 
E.  Boyd;  Nevada,  Dennis  E.  McCarthy;  New  Ramp- 


200   CLEVELAND   AXD   HIS   FKIENDS   IN   THE   CAMPAIGN. 


*////•<?,  A.  W.  Sullaway  ;  New  Jersey,  Miles  Ross; 
JPwvk,  Hubert  O.  Thompson  ;  North  Carolina,  M.  W. 
Ransom;  6Vuo,  W.  W.  Armstrong;  Oregon,  A.  Noltner; 
Pennsylvania,  William  A.Wallace;  Ilhode  Island,  J. 
B.  Barnaby;  xSb?rfA  Carolina,  Francis  W.  Lawson  ; 
Tennessee,  Robert  S.  Looney  ;  7.  ./•//*.  (  ).  T.  IK.lt;  F^- 
77Z0W/,  B.  B.  Smally  ;  Virginia,  John  A.  Barber;  }\'<*t 
Virginia,  Louis  Baker;  Wisconsin,  William  F.  Yilas; 
Arizona,  W.  K.  Meade  ;  District  of  Columbia,  William 
Dickinson;  Idaho,  John  Haley;  Dakota,  M..  11.  I);iy; 
£7toA,  G.  B.  Rosenborongh  ;  Montana.  William  ^MeCor- 
mick;  Washington,  J.  A.  Kuhn  ;  Wyoming,  William  E. 
Post. 

William  II.  Barnum,  of  Connecticut,  was  elected  chair- 
man, and  his  experience  iu  previous  campaigns  attached 
much  weight  to  his  declaration:  ''Cleveland  and  llen- 
dricks  will  be  elected.  New  York  gives  us  no  concern. 
Tammany  will  fall  into  line.  It  doesn't  matter  what  l!ut- 
ler  does.  It  is  the  fashion  of  the  Republican-Elaine 
organs  to  make  fun  of  the  independent  strength.  That 
will  do  well  enough  for  campaign  talk.  The  indepen- 
dents represent  a  sentiment  in  favor  of  honest  govern- 
ment, which  can  in  this  case  only  be  brought  about  by 
Democratic  success.  The  influence  on  Republican  voters 
of  the  Cleveland-Republican  newspapers  must  count  for 
a  great  deal.  Even  if  Butler  should  run,  which  I  do  not 
consider  probable,  his  vote  would  be  considered  small 


CLEVELAND   AND    HIS   FRIENDS   IN   THE   CAMPAIGN.    201 

compared  to  that  of  the  so-called  dndes  and  Pharisees 
who  will  vote  for  Cleveland.  I  think  we  shall  carry  New 
York  by  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  thousand  majority." 


FRIENDS   OF   THE   PRESS. 

The  New  York  World  of  July  18th  admitted  that  "  in 
its  Presidential  campaigns  hitherto  the  Democratic  Party 
has  had  arrayed  against  it  the  most  powerful  journalistic 
intellects  of  the  metropolis,  and  the  illustrated  press 
has  been  especially  a  vigorous  enemy,"  but  found  satis- 
faction in  the  fact  that  "this  year  the  Democratic  stan- 
dard-bearer is  fortunate  in  having  on  his  side  the  ablest 
newspapers  and  the  brightest  caricaturists  of  New  York." 

The  list  of  New  York  newspapers  which  declared 
themselves  in  favor  of  Cleveland  is  remarkable  and  in- 
cludes the  following :  The  Times,  Herald,  World,  Jour- 
nal of  Commerce,  Staats-Zeitung,  Evening  Post, 
Graphic,  Truth,  Morning  Journal,  Telegram,  Dial, 
News,  Courrier  des  Etats-Unis,  Harper's  Weekly, 
Puck,  Life,  and  the  Independent. 

The  importance  of  independent-newspaper  support 
was  forcibly  expressed  oy  The  New  Englander  of  July, 
1884,  as  follows :  "  It  has  been  the  good  fortune  of  the 
reformers,  indeed  it  is  to  some  extent  the  secret  of  their 
success,  that  they  have  had  the  press  on  their  side.  Take, 
if  you  please,  half  a  dozen  large  independent  journals, 


202   CLEVELAND   AND   HIS   FRIENDS   IN   THE   CAMPAIGN. 

representing  diverse  interests  and  circulating  among  dif- 
ferent classes  of  readers,  such  as  f/arj"  /•'*  H'^/.Yy,  the 
New  York  Times,  and  the  New  York  H<  raid.  Bring 
them  together  on  the  approach  of  an  important  election, 
wheel  them  into  line  and  make  them  move  in  harmony, 
and  if  your  cause  is  a  just  and  righteous  one,  you  have 
an  engine  of  political  warfare  as  powerful  and  effective 
as  any  that  has  been  invented.  It  was  such  an  engine  as 
this  that  the  reformers  had  to  help  them  in  the  canva.-s 
of  1882,  and  it  swept  everything  before  it."1 


CLEVELAND'S  FRIENDS  THE  "BOLTERS." 

"  For  years  there  has  been  a  struggle  in  the  Republi- 
can Party  between  its 'better  elements '  and  its  lower 
tendencies,"  said  the  New  York  Times  on  July  13th,  and 
it  frankly  admitted  that  it  sought  to  act  the  part  of  a 
physician  to  its  own  party  in  laboring  for  a  Republican  . 
defeat  in  November. 

"  There  is  no  use  in  denying  that  the  Cleveland  cam- 
paign means  reform,"  said  the  New  York  Independent. 
"  That  is  the  one  word  for  the  moment  that  has  thunder 
in  it,  and  the  Cleveland  men  have  uttered  it." 

"  Cleveland  is  conspicuously  strong  in  drawing  votes 
from  men  who  have  usually  acted  with  the  Republican?/' 
said  the  Springfield  Republican.  "Recent  years  have 
educated  New  York  Slate  up  to  an  extent  of  independent 


CLEVELAND   AND   HIS   FRIENDS   IN  THE   CAMPAIGN.    203 

voting  which  the  rest  of  the  country  fails  as  yet  to  ap- 
preciate. Take  the  case  of  the  New  York  Times  as  illus- 
trating this  point.  The  superficial  critic  would  say  that 
when  the  leading  Republican  newspaper  of  that  city- 
bolted  the  Presidential  nomination  it  took  a  great  busi- 
ness risk,  one  for  which  the  private  satisfaction  of  con- 
scientious action  was  no  substantial  substitute ;  but  the 
fact  is  that  the  Times  accurately  voiced  the  thinking  and 
patriotic  Republican  sentiment  of  its  readers,  and  this  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  as  a  business  enterprise  that 
paper  was  never  so  prosperous  as  at  this  moment." 

And  the  character  and  ardor  of  individual  friends  who 
became  known  as  "  bolters"  are  equally  high. 

President  Seelye,  of  Amherst  College,  was  one  of  the 
most  influential  members  of  the  Conference  of  Indepen- 
dents in  JS"ew  York  in  July.  In  all  that  was  decent,  he 
said,  the  members  were  still  Republicans.  He  believed 
in  following  the  Republican  Party  simply  as  long  as  the 
Republican  Party  stood  for  right  and  justice.  If  he  took 
the  Democratic  candidate,  it  was  for  his  own  record  and 
not  for  the  record  of  his  party.  The  independent  Re- 
publicans have  something  more  to  do  than  simply  to 
range  themselves  on  one  side  or  the  other  of  the  present 
shifting  parties.  They  have  an  upward  and  an  onward 
movement  to  inaugurate  and  to  push  forward. 

Prof.  Sumner,  of  Yale  College,  said  the  nomination  of 
Mr.  Cleveland  was  very  satisfactory  to  the  independent 


204  CLEVELAND   AND   HIS   FRIENDS   IN  THE   CAMPAIGN. 

Republicans  of  Connecticut,  and  their  votes  would  cer- 
tainly insure  a  Democratic  majority  in  that  State  next 
November.  "The  course  of  Mr.  Cleveland,"  he  con- 
tinued, "in  reference  to  civil-service  reform  is  especially 
satisfactory  to  us  in  Connecticut." 

A  Buffalo  lawyer,  known  as  a  Republican,  in  announc- 
ing his  intention  to  support  Cleveland,  said :  "  At  the 
Yale  College  Commencement  I  found  the  sentiment 
among  educated  men,  who  were  gathered  from  all  over 
the  country,  overwhelmingly  favorable  to  him,  and  I 
have  heard  the  same  thing  was  true  at  Harvard."  The 
sentiment  of  college  professors  and  students  generally 
was  reported  as  remarkably  strong  for  Cleveland. 

John  F.  Andrew,  son  of  the  War-Governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  himself  a  rising  politician,  resolved  upuii 
the  support  of  Cleveland  after  his  return  from  the 
Chicago  Republican  Convention. 

Colonel  T.  W.  Higginson,  another  distinguished  citizen 
of  Massachusetts,  said  :  "  I  have  burned  my  ships  behind 
me.  If  ten  years  hence  I  find  myself  a  member  of  the 
Republican  Party,  it  will  be  because  I  think  that  is  best.'' 

Rev.  Thomas  R.  Bacon,  of  New  Haven,  Avho  promises 
to  fill  the  place  of  his  famous  father  in  "  the  Elm  City," 
was  one  of  the  first  and  most  eloquent  of  the  "  bolters" 
to  declare  for  Cleveland. 

One  of  the  most  significant  defections  from  Republican 
ranks  was  that  of  James  Speed,  of  Kentucky,  who  was 


CLEVELAND    AND    HIS   FRIENDS   IN  THE   CAMPAIGN.    205 

the  trusted  friend  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  his  Attorney- 
General  during  the  latter  part  of  his  administration.  Be- 
fore he  knew  of  Cleveland's  nomination  he  said  :  "  Should 
the  Democrats  give  the  country  a  statesman  and  gentle- 
man as  their  candidate,  I  think  we  [the  anti-Blaine  Re- 
publicans] had  better  vote  for  him." 

The  character  and  zeal  of  his  bolting  friends  made 
their  support  a  high  tribute  to  Cleveland,  and  their  feel- 
ings toward  him  were  expressed  by  Hon.  Sherman  S. 
Rogers,  one  of  the  leading  independent  Republicans  of 
New  York  State,  who,  although  not  a  "  bolter"  from 
Elaine  and  Logan,  said  of  Cleveland  in  1882 :  "  He  is  a 
man  of  absolute  integrity,  that  directs  him  to  conclusions 
which  are  almost  invariably  just.  He  will  make  one  of 
the  best  Governors  the  State  has  ever  had.  He  is  hon- 
est, courageous,  and  firm  almost  to  obstinacy.  He  will 
take  no  action  except  after  thorough  consideration,  and 
he  will  execute  his  decision  in  spite  of  cavil  or  outside 
pressure.  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  I  will  vote  for 
Mr.  Cleveland." 


TIMID   FRIENDS    IN  THE    CAMPAIGN. 

Mr.  John  Foord,  of  the  Brooklyn  Union,  recognizing 
the  fact  that  many  who  wished  to  vote  for  Cleveland 
were  afraid  to  trust  his  party,  sought  to  reassure  them  by 
saying:  "  The  assurance  of  a  Republican  Senate  during 


206   CLEVELAND   AND   HIS   FKIENDS   IN  THE   CAMPAIGN. 

the  first  half  of  the  next  President's  term  is  a  most  im- 
portant element  in  the  political  situation.  The  only  con- 
sideration which  deters  many  hesitating  voters  from 
deciding  to  support  Cleveland  is  the  fear  that,  if  the 
Democrats  secure  control  of  the  Government,  they  will 
do  some  mischief."  He  showed  that  at  the  most  Demo- 
crats could  secure  only  thirty-six  of  the  seventy -six  United 
States  senators,  or  three  less  than  a  majority. 

He  said  further  :  "  With  Cleveland  as  their  candidate, 
the  Democrats  can,  for  the  first  time  in  twenty  yi-nrs.  dis- 
arm the  fears  of  those  who  dread  a  change  ;  with  Blaine 
as  the  representative  of  their  cause,  Republicans  have 
already  convinced  the  country  that  a  change  is  desirable." 

To  the  attempt  to  frighten  timid  Republican  support- 
ers the  New  York  Times  responded  :  "  Grover  Cleveland 
is  honest,  fearless,  and  intelligent,  but  when  he  is  com- 
pared with  statesmen  like  Clayton,  Dorsey,  Elkins,  or 
Joyce,  not  to  speak  of  greater  men,  his  lack  of  experience 
of  public  affairs  is  painfully  evident.  He  is,  if  possible, 
more  inexperienced  than  was  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  lie 
will  fill  the  Presidential  chair  for  four  years  without 
learning  any  more  of  practical  politics  than  was  learned 
by  Lincoln  during  the  latter's  term  of  office." 

SCANDAL   IN    THE    CAMPAIGN. 

Early  in  July  an  obscure  Buffalo  newspaper  published 
what  the  friends  of  Cleveland  immediately  declared  u  an 


CLEVELAND    AND    HTS   FRIENDS   IN   THE   CAMPAIGN.    207 

outrageous  and  lying  scandal  abont  the  private  life  of  the 
Governor,"  charging  him  with  seduction,  open  profligacy, 
and  debauchery.  The  Springfield  Republican,  after  re- 
porting that  "  the  charge  has  already  fallen  to  the  ground 
as  exaggerated,  false,  and  malignant,"  said  :  "  Such  a  degra- 
dation of  a  campaign  has  never  been  witnessed  since  the 
days  when  Mrs.  Jackson  was  driven  to  her  grave  between 
the  time  of  her  husband's  nomination  and  that  of  his 
inauguration." 

The  New  York  Sun  said  that  "  scandals  not  discovered 
until  after  the  beginning  of  a  campaign  are  not  worth  a 
copper ;"  the  Philadelphia  Times  said  that  "  scandals  will 
be  unheeded  in  the  struggle,  unless  it  be  to  vindicate  the 
integrity  that  may  be  most  recklessly  assailed;"  and 
Thomas  B.  Connery  said  in  the  New  York  Truth  :  "  No 
man  was  ever  beaten  by  the  stories  concocted  by  his  ene- 
mies, but  American  journalism  and  American  politics 
were  thereby  brought  into  disrepute.  Let  us  have  no 
more  of  it." 

"A   MAN   OF   DESTINY." 

The  following  incident,  related  for  the  first  time  sev- 
eral weeks  after  the  occurrence  to  which  it  relates,  indi- 
cated the  belief  of  a  prominent  New  Yorker  that  Grover 
Cleveland  was  to  have  the  support  of  a  more  powerful 
than  human  friend  in  his  campaign  for  the  Presidency  : 

"  Immediately  after  the  Friday  morning  session  of  the 


208   CLEVELAND    AND    HIS    FRIENDS   IN   THE   CAMPAIGN. 

National  Convention  in  which  Governor  Cleveland  was 
nominated,  Hon.  Abram  S.  Hewitt  and  General  Butler 
met  in  a  hall  of  the  Palmer  House.  To  a  question  of 
Hewitt  as  to  what  he  would  do,  Butler  answered  he  had 
not  yet  made  up  his  mind.  Hewitt  then  spoke  as  fol- 
lows: 

"General  Butler,  I  have  been  an  interested  observer 
of  your  career  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  I  have  .never 
known  of  a  man  or  measure  you  were  afraid  to  antago- 
nize. You  have  gained  victories,  but  have  also  met  de- 
feats. Now  let  me  admonish  you  against  opposition  to 
this  man  Grover  Cleveland  ;  it  will  meet  only  disaster.  I 
am  in  a  position  to  offer  this  advice.  I  have  not  always 
admired  him.  A  year  ago  I  rather  derided  the  mention  of 
him  for  this  candidacy ;  indeed,  I  had  some  anticipation 
of  its  coming  to  me,  and  there  were  dozens  of  older  and 
more  experienced  Democratic  leaders  I  thought  more  de- 
serving of  the  honor  than  Cleveland.  But  within  the 
year  I  have  noted  him  well,  and  my  estimate  of  him  has 
changed.  He  is  really  a  wonderful  man — fully  equipped 
for  the  Presidency.  But  more :  I  look  upon  him  as  a 
man  of  destiny.  I  believe  he  has  been  selected  by  Al- 
mighty God  as  a  special  agent  for  defeating  the  Eepubli- 
can  party  and  reforming  the  administration  of  this  Gov- 
ernment." 


CHAPTER  XII. 


HENDRICKS  IN  THE  CHICAGO  CONTENTION. 

The  Part  of  Thomas  Andrews  Hendricks  in  the  Chicago  Demo- 
cratic Convention  as  an  Introduction  to  a  Sketch  of  his  Career — His 
Prominence  and  his  Popularity — His  Friends  Determined  to  Present 
his  Name  for  the  Presidency,  but  he  Seeks  the  First  Place  for  Mc- 
Donald— His  Speech  in  the  Convention — McDonald  Declares  that 
he  could  not  have  Served  him  more  Faithfully  at  Chicago — John 
Kelly,  the  Tammany  Grand  Sachem  and  Hendricks's  Ardent  Friend, 
attempts  to  Stampede  the  Convention — A  Correspondent's  Graphic 
Description  of  the  Scene — Hendricks  for  Vice-President — Nominated 
by  Acclamation — He  Goes  Home  Happy,  but  Undecided  whether  to 
Accept. 

THOMAS  ANDREWS  HENDRICKS  will  be  sixty- 
five  years  of  age  next  September,  and  for  nearly  half  his 
life  he  has  had  a  national  reputation,  so  that  his  record  is 
already  thoroughly  familiar  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  His  prominence  and  his  popularity  in  his  party  are 
exhibited  in  the  position  he  held  in  the  National  Conven- 
tion which  opened  in  Chicago  on  July  8,  1884,  and  a  brief 
account  of  his  part  in  that  Convention  may  properly  be 
given  as  an  introduction  to  a  sketch  of  his  career. 


210          HENDRICKS   IN   THE   CHICAGO    CONVENTION. 

As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  Mr.  Tilden  would  not 
accept  a  nomination  for  the  Presidency,  if  tendered, 
many  of  the  advocates  of  "the  old  ticket"  began  to 
quietly  urge  that  Mr.  Jlendricks  be  chosen  as  the  leader 
of  the  Democrats  in  the  campaign  of  1884,  but  lie  en- 
tered the  Convention  to  aid  in  the  work  of  the  Indiana 
delegation  to  secure  the  first  place  on  the  ticket  for  Mc- 
Donald. 

THE    FEELING    WHICH    H  K    SUPPRESSED. 

A  prominent  Indianian,  not  a  delegate,  who  was  pres- 
ent in  the  Convention  on  Thursday  wrote  to  a  friend  : 
"There  is  a  very  strong  personal  feeling  for  Mr.  Ilen- 
dricks,  and  when  he  came  into  the  Convention  to-day  lie 
was  given  a  very  cordial  reception  from  all  parts  of  the 
hall.  Those  who  are  in  a  position  to  know  assert  that,  if 
he  had  allowed  it,  the  movement  that  is  hourly  growing 
in  strength  for  Mr.  Thurman  would  have  been  in  his 
favor ;  but  Mr.  Ilendricks  came  here  as  the  avowed 
supporter  of  McDonald,  and  he  has  thus  far  been  loyal 
to  his  mission.  His  position  has  been  a  delicate  one,  a 
fact  that  he  himself  recognizes  most  keenly." 

HIS    SPEECH    FOR   McDONALD. 

Mr.  Hendricks  is  erect  in  figure,  and  although  his 
voice  is  not  strong,  he  enunciates  carefully,  and  when  he 


HON.    THOMAS    A.    HENDRICKS, 
DEMOCRATIC   CANDIDATE    FOR  VICE-PRESIDENT. 


HENDRICKS    IN   THE    CHICAGO   CONVENTION.          213 

took  the  platform  on  July  9  to  nominate  McDonald  he 
was  distinctly  heard  by  till  the  delegates,  and  also  in  the- 
galleries.  lie  said  : 

"MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVEN- 
TION :  This  is  my  first  experience  as  a  delegate  in  a  Na- 
tional Convention,  and  I  rise  to  present  the  name  of  a 
distinguished  citizen  of  Indiana  for  your  consideration. 
In  connection  with  the  office  of  President  of  the  United 
States  I  feel  the  delicacy  and  the  great  responsibility  of 
the  duty  I  have  undertaken.  The  people  now  demand  a 
change  in  the  management  of  Federal  affairs,  and  if  this 
Convention  will  give  them  half  an  opportunity  they  will 
execute  that  purpose  in  the  election  of  a  President  in  the 
coming  fall.  I  believe  the  nominee  of  this  Convention 
will  soon  become  the  chosen  President  of  the  United 
States.  He  will  be  the  first  inaugurated  President  for 
twenty-four  years.  He  will  come  in  burthened  with  all 
the  duties  that  usually  belong  to  that  high  office,  and  in 
addition  such  duties  and  delicate  responsibilities  as  belong 
to  the  transfer  of  public  affairs  from  the  representatives 
of  one  party  to  the  representatives  of  another,  after  long 
control  by  the  latter.  May  I  ask  your  attention  while  I 
briefly  refer  to  some  of  the  labors  and  responsibilities 
that  will  require  courage,  talent,  and  strength  on  the  part 
of  the  next  President  of  the  United  States?  The  Con- 
stitution imposes  upon  the  President  the  duty  of  making 
such  recommendations  to  Congress  of  such  measures  as 


214          HENDRICKS   IN"   THE    CHICAGO    CONVENTION. 

lie  shall  deem  important  and  necessary.  How  delicate 
and  important  that  duty  becomes!  The  President  is 
clothed  with  this  authority  by  the  Constitution.  The 
Constitution  imposing  it  upon  him,  Congress  will  heed 
his  recommendations  with  great  care.  When  Congress 
convened  last  December,  the  revenues  were  anually  ac- 
cumulating in  excess  of  the  demands  of  economical  ir»>v- 
ernment  at  the  rate  of  over  $50,000,000  a  year,  and  that, 
too,  under  a  revenue  system  that  had  been  adjusted  within 
one  year  by  the  Tit-publican  Party.  When  accumulated 
gold  overflows  the  vaults  of  the  Treasury  and  tempts  ex- 
travagant, wasteful,  and  sometimes  corrupt  legislation, 
who  can  question  that  revenue  reform  is  the  first  duty 
of  a  sucessful  party?  And  if  the  Democratic  House  had 
been  received  by  a  President  in  harmony  with  it.  recom- 
mending a  well-considered  system  of  revenue  reform, 
eliminating  the  vices  that  nestle  in  existing  laws,  and  re- 
ducing very  largely  the  amount  of  the  revenue,  does  any 
man  doubt  that  now  there  would  have  been  a  great  re- 
lief from  the  burthen  of  excessive  taxation,  and  that  we 
would  have  had  a  system  of  revenue  resting  upon  justice 
and  fair  play? 

"  Foremost  among  the  duties  and  obligations  which 
this  great  Convention  should  admonish  its  nominee  to 
represent  is,  that  the  laws  be  executed  and  that  the  pub- 
lic expenditures  be  greatly  reduced.  Shall  the  vast 
standing  army  of  120  regiments  continue  under  Demo- 


HENDRICKS  IN   THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION.         215 

cratic  rule?  At  the  close  of  the  war,  I  believe,  60,000 
men  were  found  sufficient  to  execute  the  civil  service. 
The  official  register,  as  a  matter  of  course,  was  somewhat 
increased,  and  it  should  not  excite  our  special  wonder ; 
but  when  from  60,000  in  the  course  of  twenty  years  it 
shall  advance  to  1,120,000,  it  bids  the  Democracy  pause. 
The  supernumeraries  must  be  dismissed,  unnecessary  em- 
ployments discontinue  ;  and,  in  this  connection,  may  I  not 
Bay  that  the  people  whom  you  represent  will  stand  like  a 
stone  wall  beside  the  President  in  his  endeavors  to  pro- 
mote economy  and  general  reform  ? 

"Eight  years  ago  our  party  declared  at  St.  Louis  that 
reform  is  necessary  in  the  civil  service,  and  it  demanded 
a  change  of  system,  a  change  of  administration,  and  a 
change  of  party,  that  we  might  have  a  change  of  meas- 
ures and  of  men.  The  experience  of  every  year  has 
since  confirmed  that  declaration  and  strengthened  the 
demand.  It  is  but  two  weeks  ago  that  a  Secretary,  stand- 
ing upon  the  witness-stand,  in  the  presence  of  a  Senate 
Committee,  to  bear  testimony  to  the  reproach  of  one  of 
the  bureaus  in  his  own  department — it  was  in  the  De- 
partment of  Medicine  and  Surgery — said  that  the  false 
vouchers  he  supposed  did  not  exceed  $62,000.  In  former 
times  when  the  sensibilities  of  the  people  became  offended 
by  official  corruption,  they  themselves  undertook  the 
work  of  reform.  I  dare  say  many  of  you  bear  it  in 
memory  that  an  entire  administration  went  down,  and 


216          HEXDK1CKS   IN  THE   CHICAGO    CONVENTION. 

for  the  trine  being  the  parry  went  down  with  it.  Localise 
of  a  defalcation  or  embezzlement  of  §02,000.  That  was 
but  forty  years  ago.  And  that  was  the  only  ease  that  oc- 
curred attracting  attention  during  that  administration. 
Yet  so  fearful  was  the  punishment  by  the  people,  that 
the  party  went  from  power  for  the  time  being.  "Who 
expects  that  a  party  long  in  power,  with  all  the  emolu- 
ments of  public  position  received  and  enjoyed  by  its  fol- 
lowers and  retainers,  can  reform  itself?  The  recent  case 
to  which  I  have  referred  is  very  instructive.  In  that 
testimony  the  Secretary  said  that  a  year  ago  he  had  re- 
ceived a  letter  informing  him  of  the  misconduct  of  one 
of  his  employees,  and  that  but  very  recently  he  had  been 
told  of  two  others  engaged  in  nefarious  transactions;  but 
he  said  to  the  committee  that  so  earnest  was  the  pressure, 
especially  by  members  of  Congress,  for  the  reappoint- 
ment  of  the  head  of  the  bureau,  that  he  could  not  believe 
it  possible  that  his  bureau  was  in  the  condition  in  which 
he  found  it  at  last.  The  offences  against  the  public 
service  are  numerous,  many  of  them  flagrant.  They 
must  be  pursued  to  their  hiding-place.  They  must  be 
brought  forth  and  exposed  and  punished,  and  the  agents 
that  the  President  shall  employ — I  mean  the  new  Presi- 
dent that  you  are  to  nominate  here — the  agents  that  he 
shall  employ  must  have  no  one  to  shield  and  nothing  to 
conceal.  Let  fidelity  and  competency  once  more  on  the 
part  of  the  employees  and  justice  and  fair  play,  so  far  as 


HENDRICKS   IN   THE    CHICAGO    CONVENTION.          217 

the  people  are  concerned,  be  observed  and  reforms  will 
follow. 

"  I  hope  never  again  to  see  the  cruel  and  remorseless 
proscription  for  political  opinions  which  has  disgraced  re- 
cent administrations.  But  bad  as  the  civil  service  is,  I 
know  that  there  are  men  of  tried  fidelity  in  it.  I  know 
that  there  are  men  of  ability  in  the  present  service,  and  I 
would  not  ask  that  they  should  be  driven  from  office,  but 
none  but  such  ought  to  be  continued.  In  the  language 
of  a  writer,  when  we  come  to  define  the  rights  of  the  outs 
and  those  that  are  in,  let  it  be  understood  that  none  but 
the  fittest  shali  survive. 

"Now,  Mr.  President,  I  hope  the  new  administration 
will  hold  itself  instructed  by  the  sentiment  of  1876,  in 
opposition  to  centralization,  to  that  dangerous  spirit  of 
encroachment  which  tends  to  consolidation  in  one,  and 
thus  creates,  whatever  the  form  of  government,  a  real 
despotism.  I  have  but  one  other  sentiment  to  refer  to 
before  1  shall  call  your  attention  to  the  claims  which  I 
propose  to  suggest  for  the  man  that  I  will  nominate,  and 
in  respect  to  this  sentiment  no  one  is  responsible  but 
myself.  Will  nations  never  devise  a  more  rational  um- 
pire of  differences  than  force?  Must  blood  and  treasure 
always  flow  before  international  controversies  can  be  set- 
tled ?  Controversies  will  arise  ;  they  are  inevitable  ;  but 
the  civilization  of  this  age  demands  that  they  be  referred 
to  the  disinterested  states  for  settlement  by  friendly  arbi- 


218         HENDRICKS   IN  THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION. 

trations.  The  intervening  ocean  protects  our  young  re- 
public from  the  menace  of  European  arms.  It  will  be  a 
beautiful  spectacle  if  this  republic,  so  strong  and  so  secure, 
shall  lead  the  nations  in  a  movement  for  permanent  peace 
and  the  relief  of  the  people  everywhere  from  the  main- 
tenance of  standing  armies  and  ships  of  war.  The  best 
act  of  General  Grant's  administration  was  the  settle- 
ment by  arbitration  of  the  controversies  touching  the 
Alabama.  That  settlement  stands  in  bright  glorious 
contrast  in  all  history  to  the  use  that  he  himself  made 
of  our  own  army  when  he  beleaguered  the  capital 
that  men  might  have  offices  to  which  they  were  not 
elected. 

"Mr.  President  and  gentlemen,  I  have  to  suggest  for 
your  consideration  a  citizen  of  the  State  of  Indiana — the 
Hon.  Joseph  E.  McDonald.  I  thank  you  all  for  this  re- 
ception which  you  have  given  to  his  name.  Born  in  an 
adjoining  State,  Indiana  became  his  home  when  but  a  boy. 
He  learned  a  trade,  and  thus  made  himself  independent 
and  very  respectable.  And  after  that  he  pursued  his 
studies  with  such  opportunities  as  he  had,  and  finally  pre- 
pared himself  for  the  great  profession  of  the  law.  And 
from  the  time  that  he  took  his  stand  in  the  court-house 
of  his  county  until  the  present  time,  when  he  may  stand, 
it  maybe,  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  he 
has  been  the  peer  of  the  best  of  that  profession  in  the 
"West.  First  selected  by  the  district,  in  which  he  was  left 


HENDRICKS   IN   THE    CHICAGO   CONVENTION".         219 

to  prosecute  the  pleas  of  the  State,  afterward  chosen  by 
the  State  to  represent  her  as  the  Attorney-General ;  next 
— not  next  to  that;  but  before  that — he  went  from  his  own 
district,  in  which  he  was  raised  from  boyhood  up,  to  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  afterward  the  people 
of  the  whole  State  sent  him  as  a  Senator  to  Washington. 
Faithfully,  diligently,  ably  for  six  years  he  represented 
Indiana  in  the  Senate,  and  he  was  welcomed  by  the  ablest 
of  the  Senators  as  their  peer.  Mr.  McDonald  has  been  a 
student  of  the  learning  that  has  made  the  Democracy  of 
the  United  States  what  it  is  to-day.  He  is  familiar  with 
the  writings  of  the  fathers,  and  his  opinions  are  based 
upon  the  sentiments  that  came  to  him  from  their  pages. 
He  is  of  clear  perception,  of  strong  judgment,  of  earnest 
conviction.  Fair-minded  and  just,  no  man  who  will  have 
occasion  to  go  to  the  White  House  when  he  shall  be 
President,  if  you  shall  honor  him  with  your  nomination 
— no  man  shall  have  occasion  to  find  fault  with  the  candid 
and  frank  manner  of  his  reception. 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention,  I  do  not  speak  for  Mr. 
McDonald  alone.  I  do  not  speak  for  myself  alone.  I  do 
not  speak  for  those  thirty  gentlemen  that  have  directed 
me  to  stand  here  and  speak  for  them.  I  speak  for  a 
mighty  State.  But  ten  days  ago  a  Democracy  that  never 
steps  backward,  a  Democracy  that  meets  the  contest  when 
and  where  it  may  come,  instructed  these  thirty  gentle- 
men and  myself  to  say  to  you  that  Joseph  E.  McDonald 


220          HENDRICKS   IN"   THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION. 

is  worthy  your  consideration   as  the  candidate  for  the 
Presidency  of  the  United  States. 

"And  what  is  Indiana,  and  what  is  the  Democracy  of 
Indiana?  This  mighty  State,  that  is  neither  of  the  Ka.-t 
nor  the  West,  but  sitting  midway  between  the  East  and 
the  West,  resting  upon  the  Ohio,  associating  in  com- 
merce, in  trade,  in  good  neighborship  with  the  adjoining 
States — this  great  State  has  said  to  us,  Present  the  name 
of  Mr.  McDonald  to  the  greatest  convention  the  world 
has  ever  seen.  And  for  Indiana  I  make  my  appeal  to- 
day. What  heed  will  you  give  Indiana?  For  twenty- 
five  years  during  which  I  have  had  some  responsible  con- 
nection with  this  great  party,  she  has  been  without  strife 
or  discord  in  her  ranks.  She  acted  always  as  one  man, 
and  when  the  election-days  have  come  the  tread  of  her 
Democracy  lias  been  as  the  tread  of  one  regiment  M  he.n 
the  hour  of  battle  is  at  hand.  You  know  very  well, 
gentlemen,  that  Indiana  makes  no  question  whether  ^our 
candidate  shall  live  in  New  York,  Delaware,  or  Ken- 
tucky ;  you  know  very  well  that  when  the  crisis  comes 
Indiana  will  give  him  her  vote.  But  I  want  to  know, 
are  you  going  to  make  it  against  Indiana,  because  she  is 
so  faithful,  because  she  will  not  hesitate?  Are  you  to  say 
from  election  to  election,  from  convention  to  convention, 
'  We  need  not  trouble  about  that  solid  State,  she  is  all 
right ;  her  vote  will  go  well  at  the  election  ;  we  must  take 
care — oh,  just  by  way  of  illustration — we  must  take  care 


HENDKICKS   IN"   THE    CHICAGO    CONVENTION".          221 

of  New  York  '  ?  Is  that  where,  as  representatives  of  the 
Democracy  of  Indiana,  these  thirty  gentlemen  and  my- 
self have  to  stand  in  your  presence  ?  We  ask  not  a 
favor,  because  Indiana  is  true  always,  but  we  ask  that 
that  shall  not  come  in  judgment  against  her.  When 
many  of  your  States  did  hesitate,  when  the  war  had 
passed,  the  smoke  of  the  battles  had  blown  away  and  the 
sound  of  the  guns  upon  the  plains  and  among  the 
mountains  had  ceased,  and  you  struggled  and  we  strug- 
gled, Indiana  was  the  first  State  to  carry  the  banner  of 
Democracy  to  the  front.  And  now,  gentlemen,  a  man  of 
good  attainments,  of  high  character,  endorsed  by  my 
State,  I  present  his  name  to  you,  and  all  that  I  ask  is 
justice.  The  humblest  of  us  all  may  ask  that  much;  and 
when  it  shall  come  to  be  that  in  a  Democratic  convention 
justice  may  not  be  asked,  then  perhaps  I  had  better  re- 
view the  practices  of  the  past. and  not  come  to  conven- 
tions at  all.  I  thank  you,  my  brother-Democrats,  I 
thank  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  for  the  attention  that  you 
have  given  me  while  I  have  spoken  for  a  friend." 

TAMMANY    ATTEMPTS    A    STAMPEDE. 

McDonald  declared,  after  the  Convention,  that  Hen- 
dricks  could  not  have  served  him  more  faithfully  at 
Chicago ;  but,  notwithstanding  his  devotion  to  another,  it 
was  with  difficulty  that  he  could  restrain  his  friends  from 
placing  his  name  before  the  Convention. 


222         HENDRICKS  IN  THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION. 

John  Kelly,  the  Grand  Sachem  of  Tammany,  is  known 
as  an  ardent  friend  of  Hendricks,  and  it  is  to  him  that 
the  attempt  of  Tammany,  on  Friday,  to  stampede  the 
Convention  to  the  distinguished  Indian ian  is  attributed. 

A  correspondent  of  the  Springfield  Republican  graphi- 
cally describes  the  scene  as  follows  :  "  At  length  a  little 
commotion  was  visible  in  the  New  York  delegation,  and 
the  grim  visage  of  the  Grand  Sachem  of  Tamilian v  Hall 
was  seen  slowly  rising  out  of  the  confusion.  Mr.  Kelly's 
mouth  was  wide  open,  but  whatever  individual  noise  was 
being  emitted  by  the  gentleman  was  drowned  in  the 
frightful  uproar  which  had  taken  possession  of  the  hall. 
Mr.  Kelly's  rising  appeared  to  be  the  signal  for  a  gen- 
eral demonstration  on  the  part  of  the  anti-Cleveland  men 
in  the  Convention.  Delegates  in  all  parts  of  the  space 
within  the  railing  sprang  upon  their  chairs  ami  raised  a 
shout.  Prominent  among  the  members  of  the  body 
who  assisted  in  creating  this  section  of  bedlam  were 
the  delegations  from  Indiana,  Missouri,  Wisconsin, 
Pennsylvania,  and  the  Tammany  end  of  the  New  York 
delegation.  In  the  midst  of  the  turmoil  the  band 
struck  up  'Hail  to  the  Chief,'  and  the  noise  of  the 
demonstration  smothered  the  strains  of  music.  One 
enthusiastic  delegate  from  Indiana,  Mr.  Gibson,  seized 
the  Indiana  marker  and  bore  it  to  the  chairman's  desk, 
where  he  shouted  something  at  the  chairman's  ear. 
The  Chair,  however,  refused  to  listen,  but  continued 


HENDRICKS   IN   THE   CHICAGO    CONVENTION".         223 

to  thump  the  desk  with  his  gavel,  and  Mr.  Gibson 
retired.  In  the  mean  time  the  audience  and  delegates 
vied  with  each  other  in  producing  a  din  which  drowned 
out  the  voices  of  two  or  three  dozen  Cleveland  men  who 
were  attempting  'to  get  the  ear  of  the  Chair.  With  all 
this  turmoil  about  him,  Governor  Hendricks  preserved 
a  perfect  calmness.  He  sat  in  his  chair  and  resisted  the 
determined  efforts  of  a  horde  of  shouting  delegates  who 
tried  to  drag  him  to  his  feet.  A  number  of  the  Tam- 
manyites  resumed  their  seats,  but  Senator  Grady  danced 
about  on  his  chair  violently  waving  a  newspaper.  Flags, 
handkerchiefs,  fans,  hats,  and  even  coats  and  shawls 
were  brought  into  use  by  the  Hendricks  sympathizers 
in  the  audience.  All  at  once  out  of  the  uproar  came  a 
voice  like  the  blast  of  a  fog-horn,  and  Mr.  Beck  of 
Indiana  called  for  three  cheers  for  Thomas  A.  Hen- 
dricks, and  these  were  given. 

"  General  Mansur  forced  his  way  through  the  crowds 
in  the  aisle,  and  climbed  up  to  Chairman  Vilas's  position 
with  a  statement  that  Missouri  wished  to  cast  its  vote 
solid  for  Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  but  the  Chair  with  a 
few  vigorous  thumps  of  his  gavel,  which  now  began 
to  look  worn  and  frayed  at  the  edges,  informed  the 
Missourian  that  he  was  out  of  order.  James  M. 
Quarles,  of  Tennessee,  informed  the  Chair,  in  a  sten- 
torian voice,  that  his  State  desired  to  put  in  nomina- 
tion Thomas  A.  Hendricks.  Mr.  Quarles  also  tried 


224         HENDRICKS   IN   THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION. 

his   hand   on   the   chairman,   but   with   no   better  suc- 
cess." 

HENDRICKS   FOR   VICE-PRESIDENT. 

Mr.  Hendrieks  was  much  gratified  by  the  enthusi- 
astic reception  he  received,  and  he  remarked  laugh- 
ingly, during  the  afternoon:  "If  the  nomination  had 
been  left  to  the  crowd  and  not  the>  Convention,  I  ex- 
pect I  would  have  been  nominated  ;  but  no  new  man 
could  have  defeated  Mr.  Cleveland  at  that  stage  of  the 
proceedings." 

About  six  o'clock  on  Friday  evening,  when  the  roll 
was  called  for  the  nomination  of  a  candidate  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  Senator  "Wallace,  of  Pennsylvania,  said 
that  he  nominated  as  a  candidate  for  Vice-President 
"a  man  conversant  with  public  affairs  throughout  his 
whole  life,  an  honored  statesman,  a  pure  and  upright 
citizen,  a  victim  of  the  grossest  fraud  ever  perpetrated 
on  the  American  people — Thomas  A.  Hendrieks." 

The  nomination  was  seconded  by  Governor  Waller, 
of  Connecticut.  The  cheering  was  almost  deafening  for 
several  minutes,  and  it  was  with  great  difficulty  that 
sufficient  order  could  be  restored  to  hear  Major  Men- 
zies,  who  declared,  with  much  earnestness,  that  Mr. 
Hendrieks  was  not  and  would  not  be  a  candidate. 

Mr.  "Wallace,  of  Pennsylvania,  said  that  Mr.  lit  n- 
dricks  had  been  once  chosen  Vice-President,  and  had 


SCENE  AT  THE  DEMOCRATIC  CONVENTION  ON  ANNOUNCING  THE 
NOMINATION  OF  HON.  THOMAS  A. 


HENDRICKS   IN  THE   CHICAGO   CONVENTION".         227 

•eon  despoiled  of  his  office.  The  Democrats  of  the 
epnblic  demanded  of  him  again  his  name  as  a  candi- 
iate,  and  they  would  not  take  No  for  an  answer.  He 
noved  to  suspend  the  rules  and  nominate  Thomas  A. 
3endricks  as  a  candidate  for  Yice-President  by  accla- 
nation. 

Mr.  Searles,  of  California,  withdrew  the  name  of 
:losecrans,  a  Kansas  delegate  that  of  Governor  Glick, 
tnd  Governor  Grant  withdrew  the  name  of  McDonald. 
The  nomination  of  Mr.  Hendricks  was  seconded  by 
Governor  Hubbard,  of  Texas,  and  hosts  of  others,  and 
was  finally  made  unanimous  amid  much  enthusiasm, 
Indiana  voting  for  Hendricks  after  it  was  announced 
that  he  was  the  only  candidate  in  the  field. 

To  a  correspondent  who  called  at  his  room  immedi- 
ately after  the  nomination,  Mr.  Hendricks  said  he  was 
not  prepared  to  say  whether  he  would  accept.  He  did 
not  want  the  nomination,  and  felt  embarrassed  at  re- 
ceiving it  under  the  circumstances.  "  I  am  going  home 
(right  away,"  he  said  laughingly ;  "  I  don't  think  this  city 
I  is  safe  for  me  any  longer.  I  feel  very  grateful  for  the 
cordial  greeting  I  have  received  to-day."  Mr.  Hen- 
dricks left  for  home  at  eight  o'clock  that  evening. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


MR.  HENDRICKS  IN  EARLY  LIFE. 

Mr.  Hendricks's  Birth  and  Ancestry. — His  College  Life  and  Ad- 
mission to  the  Bar. — His  Rapid  Progress  as  a  Lawyer. — Elected  to 
the  Indiana  Legislature  at  the  Age  of  Twenty  eight. — Member  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1850. — His  Interest  in  the  Public 
Schools. — He  Speaks  in  Favor  of  the  State  Banking  System. — • 
Elected  to  Congress  for  the  First  Time  by  an  Immense  Majority. — 
Mr.  Hendricks's  Opposition  to  the  Know-Nothing  Movement.— 
President  Pierce  Appoints  him  Land  Commissioner. — His  Disas- 
trous Candidacy  for  the  Governorship  in  1860. — Resuming  the  Prac- 
tice of  Law  at  Indianapolis. 

THOMAS  ANDREWS  HENDRICKS,  the  distin- 
guished Indiana  statesman  and  candidate  of  1884  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  is  a  native  of  Moskingtmi  County, 
Ohio,  where  he  was  born  on  September  7th,  1819.  His 
paternal  grandfather  was  a  member  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Legislature.  William  Hendricks,  an  uncle,  was  the  sec- 
ond governor  of  Indiana,  and  he  was  also  a  representa- 
tive in  Congress  and  a  United  States  senator.  John 
TIendricks,  the  father  of  Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  was  a 


MR.    HENDRICKS    IN    EARLY   LIFE.  229 

farmer.  On  his  mother's  side  Mr.  Hendricks  is  of 
Scotch  blood.  His  mother,  a  Miss  Thomson,  settled  in 
the  Cumberland  Yalley,  Pennsylvania,  in  1772.  Judge 
Thomson,  a  well-known  jurist,  who  was  professor  of  law 
in  Gettysburg  College,  was  his  mother's  brother. 

Mr.  Hendricks's  parents  were  married  in  Pennsylva- 
nia, and  one  year  after  his  birth  they  removed  to  Madi- 
son, Indiana.  Subsequently  they  settled  in  Shelby 
County,  where  the  father  of  the  candidate  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency  built  himself  a  log-cabin,  which  is  still  stand- 
ing. 

HENDRICKS'S  PARENTS. 

The  father  and  mother  of  Mr.  Hendricks  possessed 
many  of  the  virtues  which  most  adorn  private  life.  In 
religion  a  stanch  Presbyterian  and  in  politics  a  life-long 
Democrat,  John  Hendricks  added  to  the  simplicity  and 
purity  of  his  life  a  plain  and  solid  intelligence  united  to 
a  firm  independence  and  great  force  of  will. 

His  mother  possessed  in  a  noteworthy  degree  the 
sterling  qualities  of  good  sense  and  straightforward 
probity,  united  to  a  mild  and  gentle  disposition  becoming 
her  deep  religious  character. 

HENDRICKS'S  CHARACTERISTICS  AS  A  BOY. 
Mr.  Hendricks  as  a  boy  evinced  many  of  those  at- 
tributes which  in  after-life  made  him  famous.     He  was 
intelligent,  kind-hearted,  and  sympathetic. 


230  MR.    HENDRICKS   IN   EARLY   LIFE. 

Mrs.  En  anna  Thompson,  of  Shelby  County,  who  is 
now  seventy-seven  years  old,  remembers  well  when 
young  Hendricks  was  a  student  in  Decatur  County,  and 
tells  the  following  story  of  an  occurrence  which  im- 
pressed itself  upon  her  memory  : 

"  A  little  orphan  boy  seemed  to  be  the  object  of  petty 
persecution  by  quite  all  the  young  men  in  attendance 
at  the  school.  They  hectored  him  to  his  great  grief 
and  annoyance,  and  he  was  a  spectacle  of  forlorn  friend- 
lessness,  deserving  of  pity.  Young  Thomas  Ilendricks's 
heart  warmed  to  the  little  fellow  with  sincerest  tenderness, 
and  the  attachment  soon  became  mutual.  This  cham- 
pionship lifted  a  mountainous  burden  from  the  little  fel- 
low's shoulders,  and  his  cheerful  countenance  promptly 
betokened  the  growth  of  his  courage  and  happiness 
under  his  protector.  This  incident  was  frequently  the 
subject  of  complimentary  comment  upon  young  Hen- 
dricks, as  suggestive  of  his  generous  nature  and  love  of 
fair  play." 

When  eighteen  years  old  Hendricks  entered  Hanover 
College,  from  which  institution  he  was  graduated  in 
1841.  His  college  life  was  very  much  like  the  school- 
boy life  which  had  preceded  it.  He  was  a  good  student 
and  equally  popular  with  his  classmates  and  instructors. 

Leaving  college,  Hendricks,  who  was  then  twenty-two 
years  old,  went  to  Chambersburg,  Pennsylvania,  where 
he  began  the  study  of  law. 


MK.    HENDRICKS   IN   EAELY   LIFE.  231 

ADMITTED   TO   THE   BAK. 

Three  years  later  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  and  be- 
gan the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Indiana.  His  suc- 
cess was  at  once  rapid  and  substantial ;  his  pure  life  and 
genial  manners  won  him  a  large  circle  of  friends,  and 
in  a  few  years  he  became  a  lawyer  of  excellent  standing. 
He  often  came  in  competition  with  Oliver  P.  Morton, 
subsequently  known  as  the  "  War-Governor  of  Indiana," 
with  whom  his  chances  of  success  were  about  as  those 
of  Caleb  Gushing  with  Rnfus  Choate — apt  to  be  beaten 
before  a  jury  and  to  succeed  before  a  judge. 

As  a  lawyer  Mr.  Hendricks  entered  with  an  honest 
zeal  into  every  case  which  engaged  his  attention,  and 
never  slighted  any  detail,  however  seemingly  unimpor- 
tant, which  might  strengthen  the  cause  of  a  client.  His 
industry  reaped  its  own  reward.  He  became  distin- 
guished at  the  bar  both  for  his  wide  knowledge  of  the 
law  and  for  the  subtlety  and  soundness  of  his  arguments. 
Men  trusted  him  because  they  knew  that  his  opinions 
were  correct  and  his  convictions  honest.  There  were 
times  when  he  became  strongly  aggressive.  But  his 
aggression  was  always  against  what  he  believed  to  be 
wrong.  Under  all  circumstances  he  was  a  dangerous 
opponent. 


232  MR.    HENDRICKS   IN    EARLY    LIFE. 

MR.  HENDRICKS'S   ABILITY  AND   POPULARITY  AS    A    LAWYER. 

Young  Hendricks  was  an  impressive  speaker,  having 
early  given  himself  much  to  the  arts  of  oratory,  and  this 
fact  at  once  directed  toward  him  the  choice  of  the  peo- 
ple for  public  life.  There  was  always  a  charm  about 
him  that  won  him  hosts  of  friends.  He  was  pure  in 
morals,  and  not  merely  upright  in  character,  but  solici- 
tous to  preserve  himself  from  even  the  appearance  of 
evil.  He  was  careful  in  money  matters  ami  slowly  ac- 
cumulated a  moderate  fortune,  although  his  practice  was 
often  interrupted  by  political  service,  and  his  expenses 
increased  to  meet  the  social  requirements  of  official  sta- 
tion. His  condition  enabled  him  to  render  material 
assistance  to  many  of  his  poorer  companions,  and  the 
opportunity  to  do  a  generous  act  was  never  slighted. 

MR.    HEXDRICKS'S    ENTRANCE   INTO   POLITICAL    LIFE. 

At  an  early  age  Mr.  Hendricks's  inclinations  turned  to 
a  political  life.  His  youthful  ambition  to  win  success,  and 
the  opportunities  which  then  presented  themselves,  com- 
bined to  urge  him  in  this  direction  of  effort.  After  live 
years'  practice  at  the  bar,  Mr.  Hendricks  was  in  1848 
elected  to  the  Indiana  Legislature.  He  was  then  but 

O 

twenty-eight  years  of  age.  One  term  of  service  satisfied 
his  ambition,  and  although  tendered  a  renomination  in 
1S50  he  declined  to  accept  it. 


MR.    HENDRICKS   IK   EARLY  LIFE.  233 

In  1850  the  people  of  Indiana  decided  to  call  a  con- 
vention to  revise  the  State  constitution  which  had  been 
in  operation  since  1816.  The  adoption  of  a  new  consti- 
tution -  in  accord  with  the  spirit  of  the  time  was  ap- 
proached with  much  caution.  The  people  were  im- 
pressed with  the  necessity  of  confiding  the  trust  to  the 
wisest  and  best  men  in  the  State. 

It  is  seldom  that  a  finer  body  of  men  has  assembled 
for  a  like  purpose  than  that  which  met  at  Indianapolis 
in  October,  1850,  to  prepare  a  constitution  for  the  State 
of  Indiana.  Mr.  Hendricks  was  elected  as  a  member  of 
this  convention,  although  he  was  at  the  time  but  thirty- 
one  years  old.  In  the  same  body  were  Schuyler  Colfax, 
afterwards  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  William 
E.  English,  who  was  the  Vice-Presidential  candidate  on 
the  ticket  with  General  Hancock  in  1880,  and  William 
S.  Holman,  for  many  years  member  of  Congress  from 
Indiana.  As  a  member  of  the  convention,  Mr.  Ilen- 
dricks  was  distinguished  for  his  zeal  and  activity,  and 
was  especially  conspicuous  in  securing  ample  provision 
for  popular  education  and  placing  its  support  beyond 
the  vicissitudes  of  politics. 

AN    ADVOCATE   OF   THE    STATE   BANKING    SYSTEM. 

The  question  of  State  banks  as  opposed  to  the  free 
banking  system  came  into  prominence  about  this  time, 


234:  MR.    HENDRICKS  IN   EARLY   LIFE. 

and  Mr.  Hendricks  appeared  as  an  advocate  of  the  for- 
mer, making  an  elaborate  speech  in  its  favor.  His  views 
prevailed,  and  the  system  became  so  popular  that  his 
name  was  frequently  mentioned  in  connection  with  a 
nomination  for  Congressman.  Up  to  this  time  Mr.  Hen- 
dricks had  displayed  in  an  eminent  degree  that  force  and 
energy  of  character  which  lead  to  successful  action,  and 
had  left  their  impress  upon  every  deliberative  body  to 
which  he  had  belonged.  In  a  word,  he  had  shown  all 
the  elements  of  a  bold,  aggressive,  and  successful  leader- 
ship. If  lost  with  a  multitude  in  a  pathless  wilderness, 
he  would  not  lag  behind  waiting  for  some  one  else  to 
plan  or  open  the  pathway  of  escape.  He  would  be  more 
.apt  to  promptly  advise  which  was  the  best  way  out,  or 
make  the  road  himself  and  call  upon  his  comrades  to 
follow. 

MR.    HENDBICKS'S    FIRST   ELECTION   TO   CONGRESS. 

It  was,  therefore,  not  surprising  that  the  Democrats  of 
his  district  with  great  unanimity  solicited  him  to  become 
their  standard-bearer  in  the  race  for  Congress.  Mr. 
Hendricks  accepted  the  nomination,  and  in  the  election 
of  1851  he  was  elected  to  a  seat  in  Congress  from  the 
central  district  of  the  State,  whose  limits  at  that  time 
extended  from  Brown  County  on  the  south  to  Tipton  on 
the  north,  and  from  Marion  on  the  east  to  Hendricks  on 
the  west.  The  popularity  of  Mr.  Hendricks  was  attested 


ME.    HENDRICKS   IX    EARLY    LIFE.  235 

by  the  heavy  majority  he  secured  over  Colonel  Rush,  of 
Hancock,  whom  he  defeated  by  four  thousand  votes. 

MR.    HENDRICKS'S    OPPOSITION   TO   KNOW-NOTHTNGISM. 

In  1854:  the  country,  in  addition  to  other  causes  of 
agitation,  was  visited  by  a  cyclone  known  as  Know-Xoth- 
ingism,  which  for  a  time  threatened  to  overwhelm  and 
obliterate  the  traditions  and  laws  of  the  country,  and  to 
create  the  most  odious  distinctions  of  citizenship  based 
upon  religion  and  nationality.  Never  did  the  war  of 
prejudice  and  ignorance  beat  with  a  greater  force  upon 
the  most  sacred  guarantees  of  the  Constitution ;  never 
was  a  public  mind  more  thoroughly  permeated  with  hos- 
tility toward  men  of  foreign  birth.  Foreign-born  per- 
sons were  to  be  ostracized,  and  Know-Nothing  lodges 
sprang  up  everywhere.  Mr.  Hendricks  refused  to  give 
his  sympathy  to  this  movement.  Kot  only  so,  but  he  was 
loud  in  his  denunciations  of  the  agitation,  and  declared 
himself  in  favor  of  equal  rights ;  and  so  persistent  was  he 
in  his  course  that  for  refusing  to  join  the  organization  he 
•was  defeated  in  a  contest  for  an  office  for  which  he  had 
been  chosen  as  a  candidate. 

APPOINTED   LAND   COMMISSIONER   BY   PRESIDENT   PIERCE. 

In  the  month  of  August,  1855,  Mr.  Hendricks,  while 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Shelby ville, 


236  MR.    HENDRICKS   IN   EARLY   LIFE. 

was  surprised  by  the  appearance  of  a  messenger  announc- 
ing himself  as  the  bearer  of  an  important  communication. 
Mr.  Hendricks,  who  was  seated  on  the  veranda  of  his 
dwelling-house  at  the  time,  hastily  opened  the  missive, 
which  proved  to  be  an  autograph  letter  from  President 
Pierce  tendering  him  the  appointment  of  Land  Commis- 
sioner. This  was  the  first  intimation  that  the  President 
had  even  considered  Mr.  Hendricks's  name  in  connection 
with  the  office.  Mr.  Hendricks  was  gratified  with  tin's 
unexpected  proffer  by  the  chief  magistrate;  but  while 
appreciating  the  honor,  was  not  inclined  to  accept  the  post 
without  due  consideration.  He  was  for  some  time  dis- 
posed to  decline,  and  had  frequent  consultations  with  his 
father  upon  the  practicability  of  accepting.  Although 
Mr.  Hendricks  was  at  this  time  in  the  thirty-seventh 
year  of  his  age,  his  early  training  and  inclinations  de- 
terred him  from  taking  any  important  step  without  first 
obtaining  the  advice  of  his  father.  At  the  suggestion  of 
the  senior  Hendricks  he  concluded  to  accept,  and  in  the 
month  of  September  he  repaired  to  Washington  and 
entered  at  once  upon  his  duties,  which  he  continued  to 
perform  for  four  years.  During  his  incumbency  about 
four  hundred  thousand  land  patents  were  issued,  and 
twenty-two  thousand  contested  land  cases  were  settled. 
The  clerical  conduct  of  that  branch  of  the  Government 
was  the  pride  of  the  Interior  Department ;  and  it  is  compli- 
mentary to  Mr.  Hendricks's  administration  that  of  his 


MR.    HENDRICKS   IN    EARLY    LIFE.  237 

multitude  of  decisions  in  contested  cases  few  Lave  been 
reversed  by  the  courts. 


MR.    HENDRICKS  8  DEFEAT   IN   THE  INDIANA  GUBERNATORIAL 
CONTEST   OF    1860. 

The  great  contest  of  1860  found  Mr.  Hendricks  again 
at  Shelby  ville.  The  movement  of  the  Southern  States  in 
favor  of  secession  was  daily  making  headway.  Once 
more  Mr.  Hendricks  was  compelled  to  enter  the  political 
arena  despite  his  personal  disinclinations.  The  Demo- 
cratic State  Convention  tendered  him  the  nomination  for 
Governor,  and  he  consented  to  run.  His  opponent  was 
Colonel  Henry  S.  Lane,  subsequently  United  States 
senator.  Oliver  P.  Morton,  afterward  known  as  "  the 
great  War-Governor,"  was  nominated  as  Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor on  the  ticket  with  Colonel  Lane.  Four  years 
before  Morton  had  been  engaged  in  a  brilliant  but  unsuc- 
cessful campaign  against  AshbelP.  Willard.  The  Demo- 
crats had  a  hard  struggle  in  their  attempt  to  elect  their 
candidate.  Their  party  was  split  into  the  Douglas  and 
Breckinridge  factions,  Jesse  D.  Bright  being  the  leader 
of  the  latter.  The  disaffection  of  the  Democrats  inspired 
the  Republicans  with  unbounded  enthusiasm.  The 
Democrats  lost  cohesion  ;  Lane  and  Morton  were  elected 
by  an  overwhelming  majority,  and  Mr.  Hendricks,  with 
characteristic  submission  to  the  will  of  the  electors  of  the 


238  MR.    HENDRICKS   IK    EARLY    LIFE. 

State,  once  more  resumed  the  practice  of  law,  removing 
to  Indianapolis.  Here  he  entered  into  partnership  with 
Oscar  B.  Hard,  afterward  the  Attorney-General  of  Indi- 
ana, and  soon  succeeded  in  establishing  a  large  and 
remunerative  practice. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


ME.  HENDRICKS  IN  CONGRESS. 

His  Service  in  the  House  of  Representatives. — Favoring  Bounty 
Lands  for  Soldiers. — His  Support  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill. — 
Elected  United  States  Senator  in  1860. — His  Opposition  to  the  Freed- 
men's  Bureau  Bill. — Hendricks's  Answer  to  Fessenden. — "  I  would 
not  violate  the  Constitution  in  order  to  pass  any  law." — Hendricks's 
Support  of  the  Union  Cause. — The  Warm  Friendship  between  Hen- 
dricks  and  Lincoln. — Hendricks  Repels  an  Attack  by  Oliver  P. 
Morton. — How  Hendricks  Secured  an  Appointment  for  David  Mc- 
Donald. 

MR.  HENDRICKS  served  two  terms  as  a  member  of 
the  United  States  House  of  Representatives.  His  first 
election,  in  1851,  was  followed  by  re-election  in  the  year 
following,  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  new  State 
Constitution  in  the  formation  of  which  he  had  taken  so 
prominent  a  part.  During  his  first  term  William  H. 
English  was  one  of  his  colleagues  from  Indiana.  Among 
the  other  members  of  the  House  at  that  time  were  Elihu 
B.  "Washburne  and  John  C.  Breckinridge.  During  his 
subsequent  term  Nathaniel  C.  Banks,  of  Massachusetts ; 
William  M.  Tweed,  afterwards  known  as  the  "  Tammany 


240  MR.    HENDRICKS   IN   CONGRESS. 

I 

Boss ;"  Russell  Sage,  the  New  York  millionaire;  Rufus 
W.  Peckluun,  who  subsequently  achieved  prominence  as 
a  member  of  the  bar  of  New  York  ;  Ueuben  E.  Fenton, 
who  became  Governor  and  United  States  Senator  from 
New  York  ;  Asa  Packer,  the  Pennsylvania  railway  king  ; 
Joshua  R.  Giddings,  the  abolitionist,  and  Thomas  H. 
Benton,  of  Missouri,  were  also  members. 

MR.    HENDRICKS    FAVORING   BOUNTY    LANDS   TO    Sol. Hi 

In  the  course  of  his  duties  as  Congressman,  Mr.  lien 
dricks  was  called  upon,  as  a  member  of  the  Committee 
on  Invalid  Pensions,  to  consider  many  bills  in  the  interest 
of  the  survivors  of  the  Mexican  War.  "When  the  ques- 
tion of  granting  bounty  lands  to  the  soldiers  was  proposed, 
he  heartily  supported  the  proposition.  According  to  the 
laws  of  1850,  the  children  of  soldiers  who  died  in  the  war 
of  1812  could  not  receive  bounty  land  for  the  service  of 
their  deceased  parent,  and  Mr.  Ilendricks  claimed  that 
this  was  an  inequality  and  an  injustice,  which  he  sought 
to  remove.  In  an  eloquent  address  to  the  House  he  con- 
tended that  the  man  who  enlisted,  who  left  his  home  and 
abandoned  his  business,  ought  to  receive  bounty  land, 
even  though  the  service  might  not  have  been  to  the 
extent  of  one  month. 

While  a  member  of  the  House  Mr.  Ilendricks  declared 
himself  in  favor  of  giving  lands  upon  easy  terms  to  actual 
settlers. 


ME.    HENDRICKS  IN   CONGRESS.  241 

"When  the  subject  of  establishing  railway  and  tele- 
graphic communication  between  the  Atlantic  and  the 
Pacific  came  np,  Mr.  Hendricks  was  active  in  the  fre- 
quent discussions,  and  delivered  it  as  his  opinion  that  the 
Government  should  not  give  its  aid  to  the  construction  of 
only  one  road  instead  of  three  as  had  been  proposed. 

HIS    SUPPORT    OF   THE    KANSAS-NEBRASKA   BILL. 

During  Mr.  Hendricks's  second  term  in  Congress 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  introduced  his  famous  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill,  which  called  for  a  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise  of  1820,  and  virtually  abrogated  the  Clay 
compromise  of  1850.  In  company  with  forty-three  of 
the  eighty-eight  Northern  Democrats  then  in  the  House, 

n      v        o  • 

Mr.  Hendricks  voted  for  the  bill.  In  the  following 
Congressional  Contention  he  was  again  nominated  by  his 
party,  but  the  slavery  agitation  and  his  attitude  toward 
that  question  had  reduced  his  popularity.  His  vote  in 
Congress  was  considered  by  his  constituents  as  contrary 
to  their  sentiments  upon  the  question,  and  the  result  was 
that  Mr.  Hendricks  was  defeated  for  a  third  term  in 
Congress  by  Lucien  Barbour,  the  first  Republican  Con- 
gressman from  the  Capital  district  of  Indiana. 

ELECTED   TO   THE    UNITED    STATES    SENATE. 

The  Legislature  of  Indiana  in  1862-63  was  Demo- 
cratic, and  Mr.  Hendricks  was  unanimously  chosen  by 


242  MR.    HENDRICKS   IN   CONGRESS. 

that  body  as  United  States  Senator  for  the  term  of  six 
years,  ending  March  4th,  1869.  He  was  then  in  the 
forty-fourth  year  of  his  age.  Step  by  step  he  had 
climbed  his  way  from  the  humble  position  of  a  village 
lawyer  to  membership  in  the  most  powerful  and  influ- 
ential parliamentary  body  in  the  world. 

On  taking  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  Hendricks  was  made 
a  member  of  the  committees  on  Claims,  Public  Build- 
ings and  Grounds,  the  Judiciary,  Public  Lands,  and  Na- 
val Affairs.  He  at  once  took  part  in  all  discussions  of  an 
important  nature. 

The  same  interest  he  had  manifested  in  the  welfare  of 
the  country's  defenders  while  a  member  of  the  lower 
House  he  displayed  in  the  Senate,  and  he  had  hardly 
taken  his  seat  before  he  was  chosen  by  the  officers  of  the 
Indiana  Veteran  Reserve  Corps  to  loofc  after  their  inter- 
ests in  all  questions  affecting  them. 

HIS   SPEECH    ON   THE   FREEDMEN's   BUREAU   BILL. 

No  man  in  the  Senate  took  a  deeper  interest  in  the 
questions  bearing  on  the  Reconstruction  measures  than 
Mr.  Hendricks.  When  the  proposition  of  enlarging  the 
powers  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  came  up  in  the  Senate, 
Mr.  Hendricks  delivered  his  first  lengthy  speech.  As 
his  reputation  as  United  States  Senator  dates  from  the 
delivery  of  this  effort,  a  few  of  its  more  striking  pas- 
sages are  here  presented.  Said  he  : 


ME.    HENDRICKS   IN   CONGRESS.  243 

"I  regard  the  provisions  of  this  bill  as  very  dangerous 
legislation.  It  proposes  to  establish  a  government  with- 
in a  government — not  a  republic  within  a  republic,  but 
a  cruel  despotism  within  a  republic.  In  times  of  peace, 
in  communities  that  are  quiet  and  orderly  and  obedient 
to  law,  it  is  proposed  to  establish  a  government  not  re- 
sponsible to  the  people,  the  officers  of  which  are  not 
selected  by  the  people,  the  officers  of  which  need  not  be 
of  the  people  governed  ;  a  government  more  cruel,  more 
despotic,  more  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the  people 
than  that  against  which  our  forefathers  fought  in  the 
Revolution.  There  is  nothing  that  these  men  may  not 
do,  under  this  bill,  to  oppress  the  people. 

"  Sir,  if  we  establish  courts  in  the  Southern  States,  we 
ought  to  establish  courts  that  will  be  on  both  sides  or  on 
neither  side ;  but  the  doctrine  now  is  that  if  a  man  is 
appointed  either  to  an  executive  or  a  judicial  office  in 
any  locality  where  there  are  colored  people,  he  must 
be  on  the  side  of  the  negro.  I  have  not  heard  since 
Congress  met  that  any  colored  man  has  done  a  wrong 
in  this  country  for  very  many  years;  and  I  have  scarcely 
heard  that  any  white  man  coming  in  contact  with  col- 
ored people  has  done  right  for  a  number  of  years. 
Everybody  is  expected  to  take  sides  with  the  colored 
man  against  the  white  man.  Toward  the  colored  peo- 
ple I  hope  that  the  legislation  of  Congress,  within  the 
constitutional  powers  of  Congress,  will  be  just  and  fair — 


244  MR.    HENDRICKS   IN   CONGRESS. 

just  to  them  and  jnst  to  the  white  people  among  whom 
they  live ;  that  it  will  promote  harmony  among  the  peo- 
ple, and  not  discord ;  that  it  will  restore  labor  to  its 
channels,  and  bring  about  again  in  those  States  a  con- 
dition of  prosperity  and  happiness.  Do  we  not  all  de- 
sire it  ?  If  we  do,  is  it  well  for  us  to  inflame  our  own 
passions  and  the  passions  of  the  people  of  the  North 
BO  that  their  judgments  shall  not  be  equal  upon  the 
questions  between  the  races?  It  is  all  very  well  for 
us  to  have  sympathy  for  the  poor  and  the  unfortunate, 
but  both  sides  call  for  our  sympathy  in  the  South. 
The  master,  who  by  his  wickedness  and  folly  has  in- 
volved himself  in  the  troubles  that  now  beset  him,  has 
returned  abandoning  his  rebellion,  and  has 'bent  do\vn 
upon  his  humbled  knees  and  asked  the  forgiveness  of 
the  Government,  and  to  be  restored  again  as  a  citizen. 
Can  a  man  go  further  than  that  ?" 

The  subject  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  engrossed  the 
attention  of  the  Senate  for  many  weeks,  all  of  the  lead- 
ing members  taking  part  in  the  discussions.  Numerous 
sharp  passages-at-arms  occurred  between  Mr.  Hendricki 
and  his  fellow-members,  and  Hendricks  soon  came  to  be 
regarded  as  the  spokesman  of  the  Democratic  Party  in 
the  Senate. 

A  running  debate  between  Mr.  Hendricks  and  Sena- 
tors Fessenden  and  Trumbull  and  other  advocates  of  the 
measure  was  of  almost  daily  occurrence. 


MR.    HENDRICKS  IN"   CONGRESS.  245 

HENDKICKS    AND   FESSENDEN   IN   DEBATE. 

On  one  of  these  occasions  Mr.  Fessenden  inquired 
whether  the  Democrats  in  the  Senate  would  dare  to  pass 
such  a  bill  if  the  responsibility  were  upon  the  minority 
of  that  body,  to  which  Mr.  Hendricks  replied  : 

"  I  would  dare  to  do  whatever  ray  duty  required.  But 
there  is  one  thing  I  would  not  dare  do.  Whatever  seemed 
to  be  the  responsibility  upon  me  or  my  party,  I  would 
not  dare  to  violate  the  Constitution  in  order  to  pass  any 
law.  I  cannot  dare  do  that.  That  is  not  courage ;  it  is 
crime.  The  question  is  simply,  Where  do  we  derive  the 
power  to  appropriate  money  out  of  the  public  treasury 
for  the  support  of  indigent  persons  in  the  States  ?  If  we 
can  carry  that  proposition,  then  this  Government  can 
assume  to  do  anything  that  it  may  choose  to  do." 


-,'r 


HENDKICXS  8    LOYALTY   TO   THE   UNION. 

The  records  of  Congress  show  that  Mr.  Hendricks 
while  a  member  of  the  Senate  was  the  most  conspicuous 
member  among  the  Democrats.  To  all  measures  regarded 
by  him  as  having  in  view  the  preservation  of  the  Union 
lie  gave  his  support.  When  the  question  of  raising  troops 
by  means  of  the  drafting  system  was  proposed,  he  opposed 
it  on  the  ground  that  it  was  bad  policy  and  would  likely 
lead  to  disturbances  and  bloodshed  in  the  North.  In  lieu,  • 
he  suggested  the  payment  of  large  bounties. 


246  ME.    HENDRICKS   IN   CONGRESS. 

Oliver  P.  Morton  was  for  two  years  a  Senator  from 
Indiana  at  the  time  Hendricks  sat  in  the  Senate.  One  of 
the  most  exciting  episodes  ever  witnessed  in  Congress 
was  a  discussion  between  the  two  Indiana  Senators  on 
the  question  of  Reconstruction,  in  which  Ilendricks 
reviewed  in  a  masterly  manner  the  course  of  his  colleague 
on  that  question. 

A  well-known  journalist  of  Indianapolis  says  of  Ilen- 
dricks's  career  as  Senator  : 

"As  a  party  leader  of  conceded  ability  ;  as  a  faithful, 
conscientious  national  legislator;  as  a  public  debater  of 
the  vital  questions  pressing  during  that  eventful  period 
upon  the  Senate  for  consideration,  and  as  an  integer  in 
the  social,  legislative,  and  governmental  life  of  Washing- 
ton, Senator  Hendricks  conferred  honor  upon  both  Con- 
gress and  his  constituency.  He  was  not  a  mere  figure- 
head, an  official  nonentity,  nor  a  blatherskite  demagogue, 
but  a  practical,  earnest,  often  eloquent,  most  industrious 
and  useful  Senator,  proving  by  a  consistent  record  that 
his  views  which  guided  his  course  as  a  member  of  that 
august  body  were  sincere  and  well-grounded  convictions. 
He  was  a  brave  man  among  men,  and  had  the  respect  and 
confidence  of  his  compeers." 

The  first  two  years  of  Mr.  Hendricks's  term  in  the  Sen- 
ate covered  the  last  two  years  of  the  war. 


MB.    HENDKICKS  IN  CONGRESS.  247 

HENDRICKS'S   ACQUAINTANCE   WITH    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

Mr.  Hen d ricks  while  in  Washington  formed  the  ac- 
quaintance of  President  Lincoln,  and  between  the  two  a 
warm  friendship  grew  up,  which  was  terminated  only  by 
the  President's  assassination  in  the  spring  of  1865.  It 
is  said  that  Hendricks  had  much  influence  with  President 
Lincoln.  The  late  David  McDonald,  of  Indiana,  tells  the 
following  story  of  Hendricks's  assistance  in  securing  him 
the  appointment  of  United  States  district-judge  after 
he  was  well-nigh  exhausted  by  his  efforts  through  other 
channels  : 

"  After  I  had  related  to  Mr.  Hendricks  my  sad  tale  of 
disappointment,  he  said  cheerfully :  '  Come  along  with 
me.  I  will  try  and  have  you  see  Mr.  Lincoln.  I  will 
present  you  and  you  can  make  your  own  application.' 
"We  went  to  the  White  House,  and  in  response  to  Mr. 
Hendricks's  card  word  came  for  us  to  go  to  the  President's 
room.  Never  will  I  forget  the  scene.  He  was  seated, 
and,  after  extending  his  hand  to  Senator  Hendricks  cor- 
dially, bade  us  be  seated,  looking  at  me  kindly  as  I  was 
presented.  We  did  not  sit  down.  Mr.  Hendricks  be- 
gan business  at  once  by  telling  the  President  who  I  was, 
and  then  said:  'In  respect  to  the  position  of  United 
States  District  Judge,  for  which  my  friend  Mr.  McDon- 
ald is  an  applicant,  as  for  his  fitness  he  can  speak  better 
for  himself.'  How  long  I  stood  there  speechless,  striv- 


248  MR.    HENDRICKS   IN   CONGRESS. 

ing  in  vain  to  remember  the  speech  I  had  so  carefully 
prepared,  I  cannot  recall,  but  when  I  nm.-teivd  courage 
to  look  up  and  was  met  by  the  kind,  earne.-t  I'yi-s  of  the 
great  man  I  broke  completely  down  and  stammered, 
'Mr.  President,  if  you  can  give  me  this  place  you  will 
make  an  old  man  very  happy.'  Xext  I  iVlr  my  hand 
tightly  clasped  in  the  hand  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  some- 
how I  could  not  see  very  plainly.  You  know  I  have  the 
place,  and  that  is  the  way  I  came  to  get  it." 

HENDRICKS'S   REPLY   TO   MORTON'S    FALSE    ASs! .KTIo.V. 

When  Ilend ricks  was  serving  his  last  year  as  Senator, 
his  colleague  Morton  charged,  in  an  address  delivered  at 
Tipton,  Indiana,  that  Ilendricks,  in  a  speech  at  the  Chi- 
cago Convention  in  18G4,  had  referred  to  Mr.  Lincoln  as 
the  ''smutty  old  tyrant  at  Washington.''  Ilendricks, 
when  his  attention  was  called  to  this  statement  of  Mor- 
ton, said : 

••  When  I  read  that  passage  I  was  astonished  and  an- 
noyed. I  could  not  believe  that  I  had  thus,  in  coarse 
language,  spoken  disrespectfully  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  I  had 
then  served  one  session  in  the  Senate,  and  I  had  come  to 
know  him,  and  my,  respect  for  him  would  not  allow  any 
one  to  speak  unkindly  of  him,  much  less  with  disrespect. 
I  was  unwilling  the  people  should  believe  I  had  so  spoken 
of  him.  Though  I  was  confident  I  had  not  e\i>; 
such  a  sentiment,  I  delayed  an  answer  until  J  might  have 


MR.    HENDRICKS   IN/   CONGRESS.  249 

the  matter  carefully  examined.  I  have  now  had  it  as 
thoroughly  examined  as  seems  possible,  and  find  that  I  may 
say  most  positively  that  in  the  speech  made  on  that  occa- 
sion I  did  not  litter  the  sentiment  or  use  the  language 
attributed  to  me.  The  report  in  the  Tribune  does  not 
purport  to  give  the  language  of  the  speech,  but  only  the 
reporter's  statement  of  its  substance.  The  Chicago  Times 
of  the  same  date  has  an  account  of  the  meeting  and 
gives  the  speeches  in  the  very  words  of  the  speakers, 
taken  in  short-hand,  I  suppose.  A  copy  of  my  speech 
has  been  made  and  sent  to  me,  which  I  now  hold  in  my 
hand,  and  I  say  to  you  that  there  is  not  in  it  one  unkind 
or  disrespectful  word  or  sentiment  toward  Mr.  Lincoln. 
The  passage  read  by  Governor  Morton  is  not  found  either 
in  its  sentiment  or  language." 

Morton  was  satisfied  with  Hendricks's  statement,  and 
never  again  referred  to  the  matter. 

HENDRICKS'S  LAST  INTERVIEW  WITH  LINCOLN. 

Before  his  departure  from  "Washington  at  the  close  of 
his  term  as  Senator  in  March,  1865,  Hendricks  called  at 
the  White  House  to  pay  his  respects  to  President  Lincoln. 
This  interview  is  thus  described  by  Mr.  Hendricks : 

"As  our  conversation  was  agreeable,  I  remained  some 
time,  and  when  I  arose  to  leave  he  said,  as  he  cordially 
pressed  and  held  my  hand  :  'Hendricks,  you  are  a  Dem- 
ocrat and  have  stood  by  your  party,  but  my  administra- 
11* 


250  MR.    HENDRICKS    IN"  CONGRESS. 

tion  has  no  reason  to  complain  of  von,  and  it  is  perhaps 
proper  before  you  leave  that  I  should  say  to  you  that  in 
a  short  time  things  will  assume  a  shape  across  the  river 
[pointing  out  of  the  window  and  across  the  Potomac] 
when  I  can  have  a  general  jubilee.'  These  were  the  last 
words  I  ever  heard  him  utter.  When  I  returned  home  I 
informed  my  party  friends  that  we  should  soon  be  in  sup- 
port of  Mr.  Lincoln's  administration  in  its  policy  towards 
the  Southern  States." 


CHAPTER  XV. 


MR.  HENDRICKS  AS  GOVERNOR  OF 
INDIANA. 

A  Bitter  Canvass. — His  Personal  Popularity  Carries  him  Through. 
— The  Only  Candidate  on  the  State  Ticket  Elected. — Tom  Browne 
his  Opponent. — The  Temperance  Crusade. — "  Eating  Meat." — 
Waiting  for  the  Returns. — "  I  wonder  if  I  am  always  to  just  miss 
being  Governor  of  Indiana." — His  Course  on  the  Liquor  Question. — 
A  Conscientious  and  Clear  Administration. — Features  of  the  Baxter 
Bill. — Constitutionality  of  the  Measure. — Why  he  Signed  the  Bill. — 
How  he  Brought  the  Legislature  to  Terms. — Effect  on  the  School 
Revenues. — The  Financial  Question. — Speech  in  Philadelphia. — 
Unfair  Criticism  of  his  Course  as  Governor. 

In  1872  the  nomination  of  Greeley  and  the  fusion  of 
the  Democrats  with  the  so-called  Liberal  Republicans 
postponed  the  day  of  his  ambition,  and  Mr.  Hendricks, 
acquiescing  in  what  appeared  to  be  the  popular  will, 
gave  his  hearty  approval  to  the  new  departure.  He  was 
not  allowed  to  remain  idle  during  the  canvass. 
Against  his  earnest  wish  he  was  again  nominated  for  the 
Governorship.  The  campaign  was  a  bitter  one,  and 
almost  disastrous  to  the  Democrats  throughout  the  coun- 


252       MR.    HENDRICKS  AS  GOVERNOR   OF   INDIANA. 

try.  The  result  in  Indiana  was  bad,  but  far  better  than 
in  most  other  States.  .The  Republicans  carried  the 
Legislature,  and  elected  all  of  their  State  ticket  except 
the  Governor  and  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction. 
The  majorities  were  very  small,  but  they  were  enough. 
The  personal  popularity  of  Governor  Hendricks  carried 
him  through.  As  a  man,  courteous  in  social  intercourse, 
an  influential  member  of  an  influential  Church,  clean  and 
respectable  in  all  his  walks  and  ways,  he  was  fortunate 
in  having  for  an  opponent  General  Tom  Browne,  a  man 
who  had  served  creditably  in  the  war,  but  who  had 
brought  into  civil  life  the  recklessness  and  dissipation 
which  are  forgiven  to  the  soldier,  but  make  the  states- 
man distrusted. 

THE   TEMPERANCE   QUESTION. 

It  was  to  Browne's  further  disadvantage  that  the  tem- 
perance question  was  at  that  time,  as  it  has  since  been, 
very  prominent  in  Indiana,  and  the  first  stirring  of  that 
spirit  which  afterwards  broke  out  in  the  temperance 
crusade  was  then  felt.  As  the  radicals  on  this  subject 
were  mostly  Republicans,  it  was  a  severe  trial  to  their 
allegiance  to  be  compelled  to  vote  for  a  man  whom,  had 
he  been  a  Democrat,  they  would  have  described  as  a 
drunkard. 

Browne  hardly  mended  the  matter  by  saying,  in  hi.s 
speech  before  the  Convention  which  nominated  him, 


MR.    HENDRICKS   AS   GOVERNOR   OF   INDIANA.        253 

that  if  by  eating  meat  he  had  hitherto  offended  his 
brother,  he  would  eat  meat  no  more.  "  Eating  meat" 
became  a  cruel  piece  of  campaign  slang.  With  these 
circumstances  in  his  favor,  Governor  Hendricks  won  by 
a  majority  of  1148.  The  result  was  not  known  for  three 
or  four  days,  as  the  election- precincts  in  the  State  are 
very  large.  At  the  Democratic  headquarters  the  poli- 
ticians sat  counting  up  majorities  and  making  estimates 
hour  after  hour,  and  even  the  most  experienced  arith- 
meticians were  puzzled.  During  the  long  suspense  Mr. 
Hendricks  listened  to  an  anxious  friend's  estimate  based 
on  the  very  latest  returns,  and  throwing  him  out  by  half 
a  dozen  votes,  and  said,  with  a  laugh,  "  I  wonder  if  I  am 
always  to  just  miss  being  Governor  of  Indiana."  The 
fact  that  a  Republican  Lieutenant-Governor  would  suc- 
ceed him  in  case  of  a  vacancy  kept  Mr.  Hendricks  from 
any  thought  of  the  Senatorship,  two  years  afterwards, 
and  chained  him  to  the  post  until  the  end  of  the  term. 
His  administration  was  conscientious  and  high-minded, 
and  he  aimed  to  do  his  duty. 

His  course  on  the  liquor  question  was  most  frequently 
assailed,  and  the  matter  may  be  worthy  of  explanation, 
as  his  action,  it  was  claimed,  alienated  the  German  vote. 

THE   BAXTER   BILL. 

The  Republican  Legislature  chosen  in  the  fall  of 
1872  passed,  the  following  winter,  what  was  called  the 


254       MR.    HENDRICKS   AS   GOVERNOR   OF   INDIANA. 

"  Baxter  bill,"  from  the  author  of  it,  a  Quaker  and  an 
earnest  temperance  agitator.  The  principle  of  the  meas- 
ure was  what  was  known  elsewhere  as  local  option,  and 
the  effect  of  it  seems  to  have  been  to  give  drinking  com- 
munities an  opportunity  to  get  all  the  liquor  they  want, 
and  to  prevent  temperance  communities  from  getting 
anything  to  drink.  This  bill  Governor  Hendricks 
signed.  He  did  so  professedly  in  obedience  to  the  will 
of  the  majority  in  the  Legislature1  and  the  will  of  the 
people.  His  approval  was  merely  a  matter  of  form,  as 
his  veto  could  be  overridden  by  a  simple  majority  vote. 
Moreover,  in  order  to  interpose  the  executive  veto,  it 
was  necessary  to  discover  some  constitutional  objection 
to  the  bill.  His  own  judgment  as  a  lawyer  was  to  the 
effect  that  the  law  was  not  in  conflict  with  the  constitu- 
tion. On  so  important  a  question  as  this,  however, 
which  had  been  thrust  suddenly  upon  him,  Governor 
Hendricks  was  not  willing  to  abide  his  own  conclusion. 
Accordingly,  he  invited  a  conference  of  able  lawyers, 
who,  after  a  careful  review  of  the  proposed  law,  con- 
firmed the  Governor  in  his  judgment  that  the  Baxter 
bill  was,  in  its  main  features,  a  constitutional  enactment. 
He  therefore  signed  the  bill. 

CONSTITUTIONALITY   OF   THE   BILL. 

An  effort  was  made  to  create  the  impression  that  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Indiana  decided  the  Baxter  law  to  be 


MR.    HENDEICKS  AS   GOVEENOE   OF  INDIANA.        255 

unconstitutional.  Such  was  not  the  case.  Except  as  to 
one  unimportant  section,  the  Supreme  Court  held  that 
the  law  was  constitutional  in  every  respect.  It  was 
saddled  upon  the  people  of  Indiana  by  a  Republican 
Legislature,  and  against  the  wishes  of  the  people. 
Governor  Hendricks  was  anxious  for  its  repeal,  and 
desirous  of  substituting  a  judicious  license  law. 

His  own  convictions  were  in  favor  of  a  rigid  license 
system,  and  in  the  State  Convention  of  1874,  at  which  he 
presided,  he  set  forth  the  Democratic  doctrine  on  that 
subject  in  a  clear  argument.  Public  opinion  had  so  far 
veered  around  in  the  mean  while  that  the  Legislature 
chosen  that  year  repealed  the  Baxter  bill  during  the  fol- 
lowing winter,  the  Senate,  which  was  Republican,  voting 
with  the  Democratic  House.  Thus  Mr.  Hendricks's  course 
on  the  liquor  question  may  be  summed  up  by  saying 
that  he  concurred  in  popular  temperance  legislation, 
which  he  could  not  prevent,  and  after  a  fair  test  urged 
the  substitution  of  what  he  thought  a  better  system  for 
the  Baxter  bill. 

ME.    HENDEICKS'S    COUP   D'ETAT. 

The  whole  legislative  session  of  1875  was  a  struggle 
between  the  House  and  the  Senate  for  partisan  advantage, 
and  the  decisive  stroke  by  which  the  Governor,  who  had 
watched  the  contest  impartially,  stepped  in  and  put  an 
end  to  the  strife  was  very  adroit.  The  session  was  lim- 


256       MR.    HENDRICKS   AS   GOVERNOR  OF  INDIANA. 

ited  by  law,  and  the  Republican  Senate,  adopting  the 
tactics  which  the  Senate  at  Washington  followed,  refused 
concurrence  in  the  measures  urged  by  the  House,  and, 
although  conference  committees  had  agreed  upon  all  vital 
questions,  delayed  action  until  after  midnight  on  the  last 
day,  hoping  in  this  way  to  block  the  business  of  the  State 
or  force  the  Democrats  into  a  long  and  expensive  extra 
session,  which  would  condemn  the  party  in  a  granger 
community.  The  session  closed  on  Saturday  night,  and 
the  Governor  issued  his  proclamation  on  Monday,  reas- 
sembling the  Legislature  on  Tuesday,  without  giving  the 
members  a  chance  to  scatter,  and  politely  sugire.-ting  that, 
although  they  had  a  right  to  stay  forty  days,  it  would  be 
much  healthier  for  them  to  do  their  work  and  go  home 
before  the  close  of  the  week.  The  Governor's  suggestion 
was  heeded.  The  members  of  the  Legislature  gathered 
together  like  little  lambs.  The  whole  scheme  of  making 
party  capital  one  way  or  the  other  was  abandoned.  They 
took  up  their  work  where  they  had  laid  it  down,  finished 
it,  and  were  gone  by  Saturday,  much  to  the  gratification 
of  all  good  citizens. 

In  his  annual  message  to  the  Legislature  in  January, 
1875,  Mr.  Hendricks  suggested  that  sales  of  liquor  should 
not  be  made  to  boys;  and  drunkenness  should  be  pun- 
ished, as  well  as  selling  to  the  intoxicated  ;  and  the  minor 
who  misrepresented  or  concealed  his  age  to  obtain  liquor 
should  be  punished  as  well  as  the  person  who  knowingly 


MR.    HENDRICKS   AS   GOVERNOR  OF  INDIANA.        257 

sold  to  him.  Sales  should  be  forbidden  when  the  public 
peace  or  safety  required  it.  Like  other  pursuits  it  should 
be  suspended  after  a  reasonable  hour  in  the  night,  so  as 
to  avoid  the  disturbances  incident  to  the  traffic  at  that 
time.  It  should  be  made  unlawful  to  buy  whenever  it  was 
made  unlawful  to  sell,  and  punishment  should  be  inflicted 
upon  the  purchaser  as  well  as  the  seller.  He  recom- 
mended that  a  reasonable  tax,  or  license-fee,  be  imposed, 
and  subject  to  forfeiture  of  the  license  for  disregard  of 
the  law.  That  policy,  he  suggested,  would  bring  a  large 
revenue  into  the  school-fund,  if  so  directed,  and  at  the 
same  time  identify  the  interest  of  the  party  selling  with 
that  of  society  in  preserving  order  and  good  conduct  at 
his  place  of  business.  He  also  expressed  an  opinion  on 
the  practicability  of  making  a  difference  of  regulation  in 
respect  to  the  sale  of  vinous  and  malt  liquors  and  the 
stronger  and  more  intoxicating  drinks,  for  the  reason  that 
there  is  a  great  difference  in  the  evils  that  result  from 
their  use. 

It  is  perhaps  proper  to  add  that  the  license  law  which 
has  added  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  to  the  school 
revenues  of  Indiana  was  to  a  great  extent  the  result  of 
Mr.  Hendricks's  personal  and  official  efforts. 

THE   FINANCIAL   QUESTION. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  clamor  for  more  money,  in 
the  fall  of  1873,  Governor  Hendricks  was  not  in  any 


258       MR.    HENDRICKS  AS   GOVERNOR   OF   INDIANA. 

•way  called  upon  to  express  his  opinions  on  financial  ques-. 
tions;  and  although  his  convictions  on  those  topics  were 
based  on  well-known  Democratic  principle*,  it  was  his 
nature  to  sympathize  with  the  distress  which  he  saw 
about  him  in  every  direction,  rather  than  set  out  to 
lead  the  people  in  "the  narrow  and  difficult  path  uf  sal- 
vation through  self-denial  and  suffering."  The  strength 
of  the  popular  conviction  that  relief  was  possible  through 
inflation  could  hardly  be  overestimated.  Some  believed 
firmly  that  unlimited  quantities  of  paper  money  i^ucd 
on  the  faith  of  the  Government  was  the  true  American 
theory  of  finance.  Others  knew  that  such  an  issue  of 
irredeemable  paper  would  only  afford  temporary  relief, 
to  be  followed  by  greater  disaster,  but  they  hoped  to  be 
safe  before  the  next  storm  if  they  should  weather  that 
which  was  on  them.  All  advocated  the  inflation  of 
the  currency,  with  a  fierceness  which  brooked  no  resist- 
ance, and  old-fashioned  leaders  who  might  have  thrown 
themselves  across  the  track  of  popular  opinion,  had  they 
imagined  what  way  it  was  tending,  found  the  tide 
grown  too  strong  and  furious  to  withstand,  and  most 
of  them  went  with  it.  Whoever  was  regarded  as  a 
hard-money  man  wras  considered  in  some  sort  as  a 
traitor  to  the  "West  and  a  public  enemy. 

Under  the  circumstances,  the  course  of  Governor 
Hendricks,  when  it  became  his  duty  to  take  an  actual 
part  in  the  discussion  of  the  issues  of  the  day  in  the 


ME.    HENDRICKS  AS   GOVERNOR  OF  INDIANA.        259 

canvass  of  1874,  was  wise  and  manly.  To  be  sure  he 
did  not  advocate  the  sound  theories  of  finance  with  the 
vigor  of  Kerr  or  the  good-tempered  firmness  of  Mc- 
Donald, both  of  his  own  State,  but  he  maintained  his 
opinions  none  the  less  effectively  because  he  adopted  a 
conciliatory  tone. 

THE  TRUE  BASIS  OF  OUR  CURRENCY. 

He  argued  that  gold  and  silver  were  the  true  basis 
of  our  currency,  and  that  the  proper  method  of  return- 
ing to  specie  payments  was  through  the  growing-up 
process — the  development  of  the  resources  of  the  South, 
the  increase  of  production  and  the  retrenchment  of  pub- 
lic and  private  expenditures.  The  platform  adopted  by 
the  Convention  was  an  essentially  unsound  one  so  far  as 
the  financial  planks  are  concerned,  and  in  the  subsequent 
canvass  Governor  Hendricks  took  occasion  to  define  dis- 
tinctly the  points  of  difference  between  its  doctrines  and 
his  own  opinions.  How  many  of  the  politicians  who 
have  been  so  glib  in  censuring  him  would  have  done 
as  much  ?  It  is  common  in  the  East  to  pretend  that  in 
this  canvass  the  currency  issue  was  drawn  between  the 
two  parties,  but  among  both  Democrats  and  Republi- 
cans there  was  a  strong  sentiment  for  inflation,  and  the 
victory  of  the  Democrats  was  won  on  the  general  record 
of  the  Administration,  of  which  the  panic  of  1873  had 
broken  the  prestige. 


260       MR.    HENDRICKS   AS  GOVERNOR   OF   INDIANA. 
SPEECH    AT   INDIANAPOLIS. 

In  illustration  of  Mr.  Hendricks's  teachings  at  this 
time,  an  extract  from  his  address  to  the  Democratic 
State  Convention  at  Indianapolis  in  1874  may  be 
given. 

""We  desire,"  he  said,  "  a  return  to  specie  payment.  It 
is  a  serious  evil  when  there  are  commercial  mediums  of 
different  values ;  when  one  description  of  money  is  for 
one  class  and  purpose,  and  another  for  a  different  class 
and  purpose.  We  cannot  too  strongly  express  the  impor- 
tance of  the  policy  that  shall  restore  uniformity  of  value 
to  all  the  money  of  the  country,  so  that  it  shall  be 
always  and  readily  convertible.  That  gold  and  silver 
are  the  real  standard  of  value  is  a  cherished  Democratic 
sentiment  not  now  or  hereafter  to  be  abandoned.  But 
I  do  not  look  to  any  arbitrary  enactment  of  Congress 
for  a  restoration  of  specie  payments.  A  Congressional 
declaration  cannot  make  the  paper  currency  equal  to 
gold  in  value.  It  cannot  make  a  bank-note  equal  to 
your  dollar.  The  business  of  the  country  alone  can 
do  that. 

"The  important  question  is,  how  can  we  increase  and 
make  permanent  our  supply  of  gold  ?  The  reliable 
solution  is  by  increasing  our  productions,  and  thereby 
reducing  our  purchases  and  increasing  our  sales  abroad. 
He  can  readily  obtain  money  who  produces  more  than 


MR.    HENDRICKS    AS   GOVERNOR   OF   INDIANA.        261 

he  consumes  of  articles  tliat  are  wanted  in  the  market, 
and  I  suppose  that  is  also  true  of  communities  and 
nations.  How  can  the  Republican  Party  atone  to  the 
people  for  its  evil  policies  which  have  driven  gold  from 
the  country  and  rendered  a  return  to  specie  payment 
difficult  and  made  its  postponement  inevitable  3" 

GOVERNOR    HENDRICKS'S  SPEECH    IN    PHILADELPHIA  ON 
FINANCE. 

During  the  fall  of  1875,  Mr.  He nd ricks  was  invited 
by  the  Americus  Club  of  Philadelphia  to  speak  in  that 
city.  The  annual  political  campaign  was  then  in  prog- 
ress in  Pennsylvania,  and  the  country  at  that  time 
was  engaged  in  preparations  for  the  great  centennial 
celebration  of  American  independence  eight  months 
later.  Mr.  Hendricks  had  gone  to  Philadelphia  at  the 
invitation  of  the  merchants  of  that  city  to  see  what 
progress  had  been  made  in  the  preparations  for  the 
celebration,  and  to  assist  them  if  possible.  In  the 
course  of  a  lengthy  address  before  the  Americus  Club, 
he  said  : 

"  In  respect  to  the  finances  of  the  country,  I  have  a 
little  to  say  to  you  to-night,  not  with  reference  to  any 
policy  of  the  Democratic  Party — when  that  party  comes 
into  power  it  will  be  its  mission  to  promote  business 
and  enterprise  by  a  good  currency,  sufficient  for  the 
country's  business,  ly  a  good  currency — but  the  ques- 


262       MR.    HENDRICKS   AS   GOVERNOR   OF   INDIANA. 

tion  to-night  is,  What  is  the  policy  of  the  Republican 
Party  in  respect  to  the  finances  of  the  country?  and 
that  policy,  in  my  judgment,  is  found  in  two  acts 
of  Congress.  The  first  of  these,  passed  on  the  14th 
day  of  June,  186T,  provided  for  free  banking ;  but  at 
the  same  time  it  provided  that  the  greenback  currency 
should  remain  at  three  hundred  and  eighty-two  millions 
of  dollars  ($382,000,000).  When  the  debate  upon  that 
bill  was  progressing,  a  distinguished  Senator  announced 
to  the  Senate  that  the  fair  construction  of  the  measure 
would  be,  that  there  was  to  be  no  reduction  of  the 
greenback  currency  below  $382,000,000  ;  and  that  state- 
ment was  made  by  a  Senator  from  my  own  State — a 
Republican  Senator.  They  passed  the  bill,  and  the 
country  acquiesced  in  it,  in  the  belief  that  that  law,  es- 
pecially for  the  time,  did  fix  the  greenback  currency  at 
$382,000,000.  But  before  eight  months  rolled  around 
a  new  measure  was  introduced  into  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States — a  measure  contrary  to  the  policy  of  the 
act  of  1874.  I  speak  now  of  the  act  of  the  14th  day 
of  January,  1875,  commonly  known  as  the  resumption 
law — a  law  providing  for  a  return  to  specie  payments. 
I  have  a  little  to  say  to  you  in  respect  to  that  law. 
It  received  the  vote  of  every  Republican  Senator  ex- 
cept one.  Every  Democrat  in  the  Senate  voted  against 
it,  and  I  believe  every  Democrat  in  the  House  also 
voted  against  it.  It  was  a  square  party  issue.  And 


MR.    HENDRICKS   AS  GOVERNOR   OP   INDIANA.        263 

why,  I  ask  you,  was  it  adopted  ?  We  find  the  answer 
in  a  speech  that  was  made  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  very 
recently,  by  Mr.  Senator  Sherman,  Chairman  of  the  Fi- 
nance Committee  of  the  Senate.  He  stated  in  his 
speech,  in  opening  the  canvass  in  Ohio,  that  the  act  of 
January  last  was  passed  because  the  fortunes  of  the  Re- 
publican Party  required  it.  He  stated  in  that  speech 
that  a  year  ago  the  Republican  Party  went  into  the 
contest  in  all  the  elections  in  the  country  without  any 
policy  upon  the  finances,  and  that  they  were  beaten  all 
along  the  line,  and  that,  when  they  met  in  Congress  the 
following  session,  they  had  been  taught  by  those  defeats 
the  necessity  of  having  a  policy,  and  so  they  decided 
upon  this  bill  as  the  policy  of  the  Republican  Party  ;  and 
Mr.  Sherman,  in  the  speech  to  which  I  refer,  stated  to 
the  people  of  Ohio  that  that  bill  made  a  fixed  policy,  and 
that  there  was  no  step  backward.  My  opinion  is,  that 
from  that  bill  there  will  be  '  a  step  backward.'  It  is 
rather  extraordinary  that  a  leading  member  of  a  great 
political  party  should  say  to  the  people  that  a  bill  has 
been  passed  to  establish  a  party  policy ;  and  yet  the 
Chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee  of  the  United 
States  Senate  says  to  the  people  of  the  country, '  The  Re- 
publican Party  needed  a  policy,  and  therefore  we  passed 
the  finance  bill  of  January,  1875.'  Now,  what  is  that 
bill  ?  The  first  section  of  the  bill  directs  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  to  redeem  the  fractional  currency  of 


264       MR.    HENDRICKS   A3   GOVERNOR   OF   INDIANA. 

the  country  and  supply  its  place  with  silver  coin.  The 
last  section  of  the  bill  directs  that  he  shall  redeem  on 
the  first  day  of  January,  1879,  all  the  outstanding  legal- 
tender  notes  with  gold.  Now,  the  fractional  currency 
last  month,  according  to  the  report  of  the  Treasury 
Department,  was  about  $±1, 000,000,  and  the  legal  ten- 
ders amounted  to  $373,000,000.  So  this  resumption  law 
of  last  winter  requires  that  with  coin  the  currency  of 
the  country  shall  be  taken  up  and  redeemed  to  a  sum 
amounting  to  more  than  $4-00,000,000.  The  question  re- 
curs to  each  one  of  you,  How  is  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury to  redeem  the  currency  of  the  country  with  coin  ? 
There  is  no  gold  in  the  Treasury  for  that  purpose ;  there 
is  no  silver  in  the  Treasury  for  the  purpose  of  redeem- 
ing the  fractional  currency.  That  veiy  question  presented 
itself  to  Congress  as  it  presents  itself  to  your  minds  to- 
night; and  therefore,  in  the  last  section  of  the  bill,  Con- 
gress provides  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in 
order  to  redeem  with  coin,  shall  sell  United  States  bonds 
in  such  quantity  as  shall  be  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  do 
this.  In  order  to  raise  the  gold  and  the  silver  with  which 
to  take  up  the  fractional  currency  and  the  legal-tender 
notes,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  will  probably  be  re- 
quired to  sell  United  States  tive-per-cent  bonds  amount- 
ing to  $400,000,000;  and  the  direct  effect  of  this  bill  is 
to  increase  the  national  debt  in  gold-bearing  bonds,  at  the 
interest  of  five  per  cent,  to  the  extent  of  $400,000,000, 


MB.   HENDRICKS   AS   GOVERNOR   OF   INDIANA.        265 

and  to  increase  the  annual  interest  in  gold  at  the  rate  of 
$20,000,000.  In  my  statement  on  a  former  occasion  I 
estimated  it  at  about  $17,000,000,  but  the  Treasury  re- 
port made  in  September  authorizes  the  conclusion  that  it 
will  require  a  sale  of  bonds  exceeding  $400,000,000,  and 
the  increase  of  our  annual  interest  about  $20.000,000. 
Are  you  prepared  for  that,  my  countrymen  ?  Are  the 
men  of  Pennsylvania  prepared  to  add  to  the  gold  debt 
of  the  country  the  enormous  sum  of  $400,000,000  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  up  the  legal-tender  and  fractional  cur- 
rency of  the  country?  It  is  an  important  question  ;  but 
a  very  material  inquiry  in  connection  with  it  is  this : 
Where  are  these  bonds  sold  ?  Of  the  bonds  already 
sold  I  suppose  that  up  to  this  time  not  one  single  bond 
has  been  sold  in  the  United  States.  It  has  been  the 
policy  of  this  Administration  to  negotiate  the  sale  of  our 
bonds  abroad.  That  negotiation  takes  place  through  a 
combination  of  banks  called  the  syndicate ;  and  the  bonds 
are  not  sent  to  Philadelphia,  they  are  not  sent  to  New 
York,  they  are  not  sent  to  Indianapolis,  inviting  the  peo- 
ple of  this  country  to  purchase  them,  but  they  are  sent 
directly  to  England  and  sold  to  foreigners  ;  and  the  effect 
is  to  add  to  our  foreign  debt  $400,000,000,  and  to  our 
annual  interest  abroad  $20,000,000.  Are  you  prepared 
for  this?  Some  men  talk  about  the  Democracy  not  being 
true  to  the  public  credit.  I  say  that  the  man  who  un- 
necessarily proposes  to  increase  the  national  debt — the 


266       MR.    HENDRICKS   AS   GOVERNOR   OF   INDIANA. 

interest-bearing,  the  gold-bearing  debt  of  the  country 
abroad — is,  of  all  men,  the  man  who  endangers  the  pub- 
lic credit. 

"  Who,  I  ask,  -wants  the  legal  tenders  all  to  be  re- 
deemed, when  by  so  doing  you  bring  about  such  an  in- 
crease of  our  national  debt  and  such  an  increase  of  our 
annual  interest  abroad?  Have  the  people  asked  this? 
You  have,  perhaps,  in  your  pocket  a  legal  tender.  Have 
you  asked  Congress  to  make  provision  for  borrowing  gold 
for  the  redemption  of  that  legal  tender?  Are  you  not 
satisfied  with  the  legal  tender  as  a  currency  ?  I  would 
rejoice  if  all  the  paper  currency  were  equal  to  gold,  and 
I  look  forward  to  the  time  when  all  the  money  of  the 
country  shall  be  of  equal  value  with  gold.  But  I  do  not 
look  for  the  attainment  of  that  desirable  result  through 
the  borrowing  of  gold.  I  do  not  believe  that  a  perma- 
nent, sure,  and  reliable  return  to  specie  payment  can  be 
accomplished  upon  borrowed  gold.  I  think  that  before 
we  return  to  specie  payment  we  must  have  gold  that  will 
remain  in  the  country.  Four  hundred  millions  of  in- 
crease to  our  debt  for  the  purpose  of  taking  up  the  legal 
tenders !  The  legal  tenders  will  be  made  par  with  gold 
when  we  shall  have  restored  the  industries  of  this  coun- 
try, and  returned  to  economy  in  all  expenditures,  public 
and  private,  so  that  the  tendency  of  gold  shall  be  toward 
our  own  shores  and  not  from  us.  For  the  present,  what 
objection  have  you  to  the  legal  tenders  ?  The  only  ol> 


ME.    HENDRICKS  AS  GOVERNOR   OF   INDIANA.        267 

jection  is  that  they  are  not  on  a  par  with  gold.  Have 
not  the  legal  tenders  been  the  active  and  faithful  servants 
of  the  people  ?  Have  you  stopped  to  consider  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  they  were  issued?  It  was  in 
1862  that  the  first  legal  tenders  were  provided  for.  At 
that  time  there  was  not  sufficient  gold  in  the  country  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  the  public  service.  The  sol- 
diers upon  the  line  of  battle  could  not  be  paid  in  gold, 
because  the  Government  could  not  obtain  gold  in  suffi- 
cient quantity;  and  to  meet  that  exigency  of  the  public 
service  the  act  of  February,  1862,  was  passed,  authoriz- 
ing the  issue  of  the  legal  tenders,  and  they  were  issued. 
Upon  their  face  there  is  the  promise  of  the  Government 
to  pay ;  upon  the  back  of  them  is  stamped  the  quality  of 
money,  that  they  shall  be  a  legal  tender;  and  the  act  of 
Congress  declares  them  to  be  lawful  money.  Why  was 
that  done?  Because  the  soldier  receiving  his  money 
down  upon  the  line  of  battle  needed  to  send  it  home  to 
his  wife  that  she  might  pay  off  his  debts,  that  it  might 
meet  the  necessities  of  the  family ;  and  so  it  became  nec- 
essary, in  order  to  promote  the  public  service,  that  upon 
these  bills  should  be  stamped  the  quality  of  money,  that 
it  should  pass  as  money ;  and  it  paid  the  soldier,  paid  the 
soldier's  debts,  and  from  that  time  to  this  it  has  been  the 
active  servant  of  the  people.  From  pocket  to  pocket  it 
has  gone,  and  oh !  how  many  stories  this  bill  could  tell  if 
it  only  had  ears  to  hear  and  a  mouth  to  speak !  How 


268        MR.    HENDRICKS   AS   GOVERNOR   OF   INDIANA. 

many  debts  it  has  paid  off ;  how  much  property  it  has 
purchased  ;  but  it  has  never  been  stopped  7ior  questioned 
until  now.  Right  now,  when  the  country  is  in  the  midst 
of  a  panic — when  all  industry  is  stagnant — now  it  is  pro- 
posed to  declare  this  to  be  bad  money,  questionable 
money ;  and  even,  it  is  said,  the  Government  must  in- 
crease our  national  debt  in  order  to  redeem  it.  I  would 
be  glad  if  that  bill  were  equal  in  value  with  gold,  but, 
with  great  respect  to  Congress,  I  do  not  believe  that  it  is 
within  the  power  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to 
make  my  dollar  bill  equal  to  your  gold  dollar,  unless  the 
laws  of  trade  and  commerce  give  it  that  value. 

"And  when  any  political  party  tell  you  that  that  can 
be  accomplished  by  an  arbitrary  edict  of  Congress,  they 
mislead  the  people.  There  is  a  higher  power  than  Con- 
gress— it  is  the  power  of  the  trade  and  commerce  of  the 
country.  But  let  us  look  at  some  of  the  other  conse- 
quences of  this  bill.  In  the  first  place,  in  my  judgment, 
it  is  to  produce  a  contraction  of  the  currency  of  the 
country,  which  the  business  of  the  country  cannot  en- 
dure. As  the  first  day  of  January,  1879,  the  time  for 
the  redemption  of  greenbacks,  shall  approach,  what  will 
be  the  natural  effect  of  the  law  ?  Every  man  who  has 
money  that  he  wishes  to  lay  aside  and  keep  out  of  active 
employment  and  industry  will  put  that  money  into 
greenbacks,  so  that  he  may  have  the  benefit  of  the  ad- 
vancing value,  and  thus  the  banks,  that  have  to  redeem 


MR.   HENDRICKS   AS   GOVERNOR  OF  INDIANA.        269 

tlieir  currency  in  gold  or  in  legal  tenders,  will  put  away 
the  greenbacks  to  meet  the  exigency  when  gold  alone  re- 
mains available  for  redemption.  The  effect  of  the  bill 
is  to  retire  the  legal-tender  currency  of  the  country,  and 
to  reduce  the  currency,  upon  which  the  business  and  en- 
terprise of  the  country  are  carried  on,  from  one  third  to 
one  half  at  least.  What  is  the  advantage  of  it  ?  What 
has  been  the  effect  of  it  up  to  this  time  ?  I  believe  that 
when  this  bill  was  passed,  gold  was  about  ten  or  eleven 
cents.  It  is  to-day,  as  I  understand,  fifteen  cents.  This 
policy  of  the  Republican  Party  in  Congress,  which  was 
intended  to  bring  gold  and  paper  nearer  together,  has 
had  the  effect  to  increase  the  distance  between  the  two, 
and  the  present  premium  on  gold  is  one  evidence  of  the 
results  of  the  Republican  policy  that  proposes  to  give 
stability  to  our  currency  and  firmness  to  our  business. 
Without  contraction  and  without  inflation,  I  believe  the 
business  and  enterprise  of  the  country  should  be  allowed 
to  recover  their  impaired  strength." 

UNFAIR  CRITICISM  OF  HIS  COURSE  AS  GOVERNOR. 

After  his  nomination  for  the  Yice-Presidency  this  year 
a  few  editors  came  out  with  the  statement  that  Mr. 
Hendricks  refused  as  Governor  to  take  cognizance  of 
certain  charges  made  against  Colonel  R.  J.  Bright,  who 
was  the  Democratic  State  Printer  from  1870  to  1872. 
The  facts  are  that  the  charges  were  made  in  1871,  while 


270       MR.    HENDRICKS   AS   GOVERNOR   OF  INDIANA. 

Governor  Baker  was  in  office,  and  upon  investigation  it 
was  found  that  Mr.  Bright,  following  a  custom  which 
had  prevailed  for  years,  had  made  his  voucher  for  the 
money  to  pay  for  the  paper  necessary  to  do  the  State 
printing,  and  when  his  office  was  examined  the  paper 
WMS  found  there,  and  was  accepted  by  Hon.  John  H. 
Farquhar,  Republican  Secretary  of  State,  as  a  full  de- 
fence against  the  charges  made  against  Colonel  Bright. 
Party  friends  and  party  influence  had  no  weight  with 
him  when  dealing  with  a  public  officer  who  was  accused 
of  any  crooked  or  even  doubtful  transaction. 


CHAPTER  XVI 


ME.  HENDPJCKS  IN  THE  CAMPAIGN  OF 

1868. 

The  Tammany  Hall  Convention  in  New  York. — Mr.  Hendricks's 
Prominence  as  a  Presidential  Candidate. — Samuel  J.  Tilden  Present- 
ing Hendricks's  Name  as  the  Nominee. — A  Division  in  the  Ranks  of 
the  Indiana  Delegation. — The  Friends  of  George  H.  Pendleton 
Stand  Firm  and  Oppose  Hendricks. — Horatio  Seymour  Receives 
the  Vote  of  the  Ohio  Delegation  and  Causes  a  Stampede. — Hen- 
dricks's Name  Withdrawn,  and  Seymour  Nominated  on  the 
Twenty-second  Ballot. — Hendricks's  Graceful  Acquiescence  in  the 
Action  of  the  Convention. — He  Eulogizes  Seymour  in  a  Speech  in 
the  Senate.— Hendricks's  Enthusiastic  Reception  at  Indianapolis. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention  of  1868,  which 
assembled  in  Tain  man}7  Hall  in  New  York,  was  one 
of  the  most  exciting  ever  held.  Mr.  Hendricks  was 
at  that  time  serving  the  last  year  of  his  term  in  the 
United'  States  Senate.  Long  before  the  Convention 
assembled,  his  name  wras  frequently  mentioned  as  the 
probable  nominee  for  the  Presidency.  The  names  of 
eighteen  candidates  were  presented  to  the  Convention 
for  the  Presidential  nomination.  On  the  first  ballot  Mr. 


272  HENDRICKS   IX   THE    CAMPAIGN    OF    1868. 

Hendricks  received  the  insignificant  sura  of  2£  votes. 
On  the  second  ballot  he  received  2,  and  on  the  third  9£ 
votes.  When  the  fourth  ballot  was  taken  Mr.  Hendricks 
was  still  low  down  in  the  scale,  but  he  managed  to  secure 
11£  votes.  George  H.  Pendleton  led  on  every  ballot. 
The  fact  that  Mr.  Hendricks  secured  19£  votes  on  the 
fifth  ballot  was  regarded  by  his  friends  as  a  hopeful  indi- 
cation. When  the  Convention  adjourned  on  the  night 
of  July  8  the  idea  prevailed  that  Mr.  Hendricks  would 
eventually  receive  the  nomination. 

MR.     HENDRICKs's    NAME    PRESENTED   TO   THE    CONVENTION. 

At  the  next  day's  session  expectation  was  on  tiptoe 
when  the  chairman  of  the  Indiana  delegation  rose  to 
make  an  announcement.  Every  one  listened  with  intense 
eagerness.  Delegates  bent  forward  not  to  lose  a  word. 
The  galleries  were  hushed  to  a  complete  silence.  The 
announcement  from  the  Hoosier  State  tallied  in  a  sense 
with  what  had  been  expected,  and  in  another  sense  did 
not  accord  with  it.  Mr.  Graham  Y.  Fitch  on  behalf  of 
the  Indiana  delegation,  addressing  the  Convention,  said: 

"  Before  proceeding  with  the  call  of  the  States,  Indiana 
claims  the  right  heretofore  conceded  to  other  States,  to 
present  the  name  of  one  of  her  most  talented  citizens  as  a 
candidate  for  nomination  by  this  Convention.  The  name 
is  known  to  the  Convention,  for  he  has  already  received  a 
respectable  vote  here.  That  vote,  however,  came  from 


HENDRICKS  IN  THE   CAMPAIGN  OF  1868.  273 

other  than  his  own  State  a  tribute  to  the  worth  of  one 
of  the  best  and  purest  men  in  the  nation.  Circumstances 
which  occurred  before  the  connection  of  his  name  with 
the  nomination  rendered  it  in  the  estimation  of  the  delega- 
tion from  his  State  highly  proper  and  right  that  they 
should  give  their  vote  a  reasonable  length  of  time  for  the 
distinguished  candidate  from  Ohio,  Mr.  Pendleton.  In 
the  opinion  of  a  majority  of  the  delegation  from  Indiana 
that  time  has  passed,  and  they  are  left  to  vote  their  own 
preference  and  what  they  believe  to  be  the  preference 
of  the  people.  From  this  opinion  a  minority  of  the  dele- 
gation dissent,  and  deem  that  their  obligation  to  sustain 
Mr.  Pendleton  is  not  yet  discharged.  The  majority  have 
no  desire  to  control,  and  make  no  attempt  to  control, 
even  if  there  was  the  slightest  probability  of  the  attempt 
being  successful,  the  action  of  that  minority.  We  con- 
cede to  them  the  best  of  motives,  a  desire  mainly  to  con- 
scientiously discharge  a  delegated  trust.  The  citizen 
whose  name  we  are  about  to  present  is  a  man  of  unim- 
peached  private  character  and  unimpeachable  public 
record.  He  is  a  gentlemen,  sir,  in  all  the  relations  of 
life.  He  is  not,  he  never  was,  an  office-seeker  himself ; 
but  whatever  position  has  been  bestowed  upon  him  by 
the  partiality  of  the  citizens  of  his  own  State  has  been 
bestowed  unsought  ,and  by  acclamation.  He  is  second 
to  no  man  in  our  borders  in  ability,  and  in  devotion  to 
the  Union,  in  attachment  to  the  principles  of  Democracy, 


2U  HENDRICKS   IN  THE   CAMPAIGN   OP   1868. 

in  integrity  of  purpose,  and  in  firmness  in  the  discharge 
of  duty.     That  citizen  is  Thomas  A.  Hendricks." 

THE   INDIANA    DELEGATION    DIVIDED. 

Mr.  R.  J.  Reeves  on  behalf  of  the  minority  of  the 
delegation  from  Indiana  then  addressed  the  Convention. 
He  said  that  the  Indiana  State  Democratic  Convention 
which  had  assembled  in  Indianapolis  six  months  before 
had  adopted  a  resolution  expressing  a  preference  for  Mr. 
Pendleton  over  the  most  determined  and  persistent  oppo- 
sition. Mr.  Reeves  further  said  that  the  Indiana  dele- 
gation at  a  meeting  the  day  before  had  decided  to  cast  its 
vote  for  Mr.  Pendleton  as  long  as  there  was  a  reasonable 
hope  of  his  nomination. 

When  the  seventh  ballot  was  taken  Mr.  Hendricks 
received  39£  votes.  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  who  was  chair- 
man of  the  New  York  delegation,  then  arose  and  an- 
nounced that  his  delegation  would  retire  for  consultation. 

SAMUEL   J.    TILDEN    PRESENTING   THE   NAME  OF    IIENDRICK8. 

This  movement  was  regarded  by  Mr.  Hendricks's 
friends  as  favorable  to  his  nomination.  "When  the  dele- 
gation returned,  Mr.  Tilden  announced  that  the  Empire 
State  unanimously  agreed  to  withdraw  the  name  of 
Sanford  E.  Church  whom  they  had  heretofore  supported, 
and  would  vote  for  Mr.  Hendricks.  The  way  in  which 
this  announcement  was  made  was  as  singularly  interest- 


HEXDRTCKS   IN"  THE   CAMPAIGN  OF   1868.  275 

ing  as  the  effect  which  it  produced  was  exciting.  Mr. 
Tilden  conceived  the  happy  thought  of  prefacing  the 
vote  of  New  York  for  Hendricks  with  a  "few  remarks," 
and  began  in  a  shrill,  piercing  voice  to  make  them.  Gen- 
eral McCook  of  Ohio  just  about  the  same  time  concluded, 
and  perhaps  with  parliamentary  propriety,  that  Mr. 
Tilden  was  not  in  order,  and  he  labored  to  impress  the 
chairman  with  that  opinion.  Accordingly,  when  Gene- 
ral McCook  had  made  his  point  and  had  concluded,  the 
chairman  proceeded  to  re-declare  and  enforce  it.  But 
between  the  pauses  of  the  Ohioan  on  the  one  hand  and  of 
the  President  on  the  other,  Mr.  Tilden  managed  to  inject 
just  what  he  wished  to  say,  and  before  he  had  been 
called  to  order  had  finished  his  speech  and  taken  his 
seat.  On  the  support  given  by  New  York  to  Mr.  Hen- 
dricks the  audience  became  very  enthusiastic.  They 
cheered  long  and  loudly.  It  was  not  less  a  tribute  to  the 
acceptability  of  Mr.  Hendricks  than  it  was  an  expression 
of  satisfaction  at  the  new  departure  taken  by  New  York 
State. 

When  the  Convention  adjourned  for  the  day  the 
chances  of  Mr.  Hendricks's  nomination  were  considered 
excellent.  It  was  understood,  however,  that  the  friends 
of  Mr.  Pendleton  were  determined  that  Mr.  Hendricks 
should  not  be  nominated,  and  that  the}7  had  concluded  to 
give  the  nomination  to  an  Eastern  man. 


276         HENDRICKS  IN  THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1868. 

MB.  PENDLETON'S  NAME  WITHDRAWN. 

On  the  morning  of  July  9  the  fifth  day's  session  of  the 
Convention  opened,  and  a  letter  was  read  from  Mr.  Pen- 
dleton  withdrawing  his  name  as  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency. 

When  the  twenty-seventh  ballot  was  ordered  Mr.  Hen- 
dricks  received  the  vote  of  New  York  State  as  before. 
When  Ohio  was  called,  the  twenty -seven  votes  thereto- 
fore welded  to  Pendleton  were  given  to  Horatio  Sey- 
mour. The  effect  of  this  unexpected  move  disheartened 
the  men  who  had  so  far  stood  nobly  by  Hendricks.  On 
the  previous  ballot  General  Hancock  led  with  135£  votes, 
and  Mr.  Hendricks's  figures  had  gradually  swollen  up  to 
107£.  The  effect  produced  by  the  presentation  of  the 
name  of  Mr.  Seymour  was  without  precedent,  and  dele- 
gates and  audience  became  frantic.  The  delegation  from 
Vermont,  which  was  the  first  in  the  Convention  to  vote 
for  Mr.  Hendricks,  announced  through  their  chairman 
that  they  should  yield  to  the  ardent  wish  of  the  Conven- 
tion and  change  their  vote  from  Hendricks  to  Seymour. 
A  stampede  for  Seymour  followed,  and  he  received  the 
nomination. 

HOW   MB.    IIENDRICKS    TOOK    HIS    DEFEAT. 

The  nomination  of  Mr.  Seymour  caused  much  surprise 
throughout  the  country.  Mr.  Hendricks  continued  in 


HENDEICKS   IN   THE   CAMPAIGN   OF   1868.  277 

his  seat  in  the  Senate  during  the  entire  session  of  the 
Convention.  "When  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Seymour 
was  announced,  he  alluded  to  that  gentleman  as  a  man  of 
very  weighty  character  and  personal  influence  whose 
charms  would  be  likely  to  grow  upon  the  people  as  the 
campaign  progressed. 

In  an  address  to  the  Senate  a  few  days  after  the  Con- 
vention Mr.  Hendricks  seized  the  first  opportunity  of 
defining  his  position.  He  said  : 

"  The  two  parties  into  which  the  people  of  this  country 
are  now  divided  have  declared  their  platform  of  princi- 
ples ;  they  have  put  their  tickets  in  nomination  ;  and  it 
is  for  the  people  now  to  decide  which  set  of  principles 
they  will  adopt  and  which  set  of  candidates  they  will 
elect.  In  my  opposition  to  the  ticket  headed  by  General 
Grant  I  never  expect  to  place  it  upon  personal  grounds. 
I  recognize  the  gentleman  at  the  head  of  that  ticket  as 
an  eminent  military  man,  and  his  associate  as  a  distin- 
guished civilian.  Against  them  personally  I  expect  never 
to  express  a  sentiment.  I  oppose  their  election  because 
they  have  become,  by  acquiescing  in  their  nomination,  the 
representatives  of  the  sentiments  that  have  controlled 
Congress  for  the  last  three  years ;  because  they  stand 
upon  a  platform  which  is  objectionable  in  part  and 
equivocal  in  part.  The  Convention  at  New  York  has 
expressed  its  views  in  a  platform  which  in  no  section  can 
be  misunderstood.  It  declares  our  views  and  our  pur- 


278  HENDRICKS   IN   THE   CAMPAIGN    OF    1868. 

poses  so  distinctly  and  emphatically  that  the  people  are 
not  and  cannot  be  misled.  I  need  not,  in  addressing 
either  the  Senate  or  the  country,  occupy  much  time  in 
speaking  of  Mr.  Seymour.  He  has  long  been  known  to 
the  country  as  one  of  the  first  of  her  statesmen.  A 
ripe  scholar  and  profound  thinker,  in  times  and  in  posi- 
tions of  great  difficulty  he  has  done  the  State  much 
service.  He  has  filled  positions,  the  highest  in  the 
country,  except  that  to  which  he  has  been  nominated, 
and  to  which,  in  my  judgment,  he  will  be  elected.  A 
statesman  in  thought  and  efficient  in  action,  he  will  com- 
mand the  confidence  of  the  country.  I  know  that  criti- 
cisms have  been  made  upon  his  conduct  during  the  war. 
I  am  glad  that  it  requires  but  a  sentence  to  answer  all 
criticisms.  So  efficient  was  he  as  the  executive  of  the 
great  State  of  New  York,  in  the  raising  of  troops,  and 
especially  in  the  aid  he  gave  to  the  Government  about 
the  time  of  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
returned  to  him,  in  the  most  earnest  and  emphatic  man- 
ner, his  thanks.  He  is  a  man  who,  at  the  head  of  this 
Government,  will  recognize  all  sections,  and  respect  and 
labor  to  promote  the  interests  of  each.  I  believe  that 
the  highest  interests  of  this  country  demand  the  election 
of  Mr.  Seymour,  and  that  he  will  be  elected,  and  that  the 
country  will  again  be  restored  to  permanent  peace — peace 
that  rests  not  upon  subjection  to  despotic  power,  but  upon 
restored  supremacy  of  the  Constitution  and  the  rightful 


HESTDRICKS  IN"  THE   CAMPAIGN-   OF   1868.  279 

authority  of  all  the  departments  of  the  Government,  and 
to  a  prosperity  enduring  as  that  peace." 

ME.    HENDRICKS'S    GRAND    WELCOME    IN    INDIANAPOLIS. 

On  the  adjournment  of  Congress  Mr.  Hendricks  re- 
paired at  once  to  his  home,  arriving  there  on  July  28. 
The  welcome  accorded  him  was  unprecedented  in  enthu- 
siasm and  unsurpassed  in  the  number  of  those  partici- 
pating. The  attendance  was  simply  immense,  and  all  the 
accessories  of  the  occasion  were  on  a  grand  scale.  Mr. 
Hendricks's  reception  was  one  of  the  most  important  po- 
litical demonstrations  that  had  occurred  in  years,  and 
formally  opened  the  campaign  of  1868  on  the  part  of  the 
Democrats  of  Indiana.  Mr.  Hendricks  was  received 
with  a  national  salute  on  his  arrival  in  the  city,  and  was 
escorted  by  a  large  torchlight  procession  to  the  court- 
house square.  In  a  lengthy  speech  he  criticised  the 
proposition  before  Congress  to  arm  the  blacks,  referred 
to  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  Bill  and  the  tariff,  and  spoke 
on  the  subject  of  finance. 

Mr.  Hendricks  thoroughly  canvassed  the  State  of  Indi- 
ana during  the  campaign,  and  was  everywhere  received 
with  unparalleled  enthusiasm.  He  entered  into  a  joint  de- 
bate with  Governor  Baker,  and  the  two  together  visited 
most  of  the  principal  points  in  the  State.  A  Republican 
who  listened  to  these  discussions  is  authority  for  the 
statement  that  Governor  Baker  made  a  great  mistake  in 


280  HENDRICKS  IN  THE   CAMPAIGN   OF   1868. 

undertaking  these  joint  debates.  "  He  is  a  true,  honest 
man,"  said  he,  "but  he  cannot  begin  to  speak  with  IK-n- 
dricks.  Hendricks  is  altogether  the  better  orator,  and 
lias  a  splendid  voice  and  presence." 

For  years  the  friends  of  Mr.  Ilendricks  cherished  a 
feeling  of  bitter  animosity  toward  their  Ohio  neighbors. 
They  have  always  held  that  the  nomination  of  their  own 
favorite  in  1868  would  have  turned  the  political  tide, 
although  Mr.  Hendricks  was  defeated  for  the  governor- 
ship by  Conrad  Baker  in  the  same  year. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


MR.  HENDRICKS  ON    THE    TICKET  WITH 
MU.   TILDEN. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention  of  1876. — Mr.  Hendricks 
Unanimously  Nominated  for  Vice-President  on  the  First  Ballot. — 
His  Disinclination  to  Accept  the  Honor. — His  Letter  of  Acceptance. 
— Approval  of  the  Platform. — "  The  Public  Service  Debauched  by 
Dishonesty,  Rapacity,  and  Venality." — The  Questions  of  Finance, 
Civil  Service,  and  Foreign  Policy. — Uncertainty  as  to  the  Result  of 
the  Election. — Excitement  throughout  the  Country. — The  Electoral 
Commission. — Hayes  Declared  Elected. — Hendricks's  Attitude  pend- 
ing the  Decision. — His  Speech  at  the  Manhattan  Club  in  New  York. 
— "A  Great  and  a  Sincere  People  will  Base  their  Final  Action  upon 
the  Truth." 

The  year  1876  was  one  of  the  most  eventful  in  the 
history  of  the  United  States.  The  centennial  anni- 
versary of  the  nation's  birth  was  celebrated  with  much 
enthusiasm  throughout  the  country,  and  the  opening  of 
the  magnificent  Exhibition  at  Philadelphia  was  soon  fol- 
lowed by  the  assembling  of  the  Democratic  National 
Convention  at  St.  Louis.  Again  Mr.  Hendricks's  name 
came  prominently  before  the  people.  The  sentiment 


282         HENDRICKS   ON  THE  TICKET  WITH  TILDEN. 

of  a  large  number  of  delegates   was   favorable  to   his 

O  O 

nomination  to  the  Presidency ;  but  although  his  friends 
urged  his  claims  for  the  place  with  enthusiasm,  Mr. 
Tilden  was  nominated  after  a  short  struggle,  the  Indi- 
ana delegation  seconding  the  nomination  with  alacrity. 
Various  names  had  been  suggested  as  candidates  for  the 
office  of  Vice-President.  The  admirers  of  Henry  B. 
Payne,  of  Ohio,  and  William  R.  Morrison,  of  Illinois, 
chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  made  strong  efforts  to  secure 
the  nomination  for  their  favorite.  When  it  was  suggested 
that  the  nomination  be  given  to  Mr.  Hendricks,  the 
Indiana  delegation  disavowed  responsibility  in  that  con- 
nection, partly  because  of  disappointment  at  Mr.  Hen- 
dricks's  failure  to  receive  the  nomination  for  the  first 
place  on  the  ticket,  and  partly  because  it  was  feared  Mr. 
Hendricks  would  not  accept  the  nomination  for  second 
place.  But  one  ballot  was  taken,  Mr.  Hendricks  receiv- 
ing 730  out  of  738  votes.  The  nomination  was  made 
unanimous  during  a  scene  of  enthusiasm  and  excitement 
rarely  witnessed  in  a  national  convention. 

Mr.  Hendricks  did  not  desire  the  nomination,  but  he 
could  not  disregard  the  unanimous  wish  of  the  party  so 
enthusiastically  expressed.  After  receiving  official  noti- 
fication of  his  nomination,  he  paid  a  visit  of  consultation 
to  Mr.  Tilden,  who  was  sojourning  at  Saratoga,  and 
shortly  after  addressed  a  letter  to  the  committee  of  the 


HENDRICKS   ON   THE   TICKET   WITH   TILDEN.  283 

Convention,  accepting  the  nomination  in  the  following 
words : 

HENDRICKS'S   LETTER   OF   ACCEPTANCE   IN   1876. 

"INDIANAPOLIS,  July  24,  1876. 

"  GENTLEMEN  :  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the 
receipt  of  your  communication,  in  which  you  have  for- 
mally notified  me  of  my  nomination  by  the  National 
Democratic  Convention  at  St.  Louis  as  their  candidate  for 
the  office  of  Vice-President  of  the  United  States.  It  is 
a  nomination  which  I  had  neither  expected  nor  desired  ; 
and  yet  I  recognize  and  appreciate  the  high  honor  done 
me  by  the  Convention.  The  choice  of  such  a  body,  pro- 
nounced with  such  unusual  unanimity,  and  accompanied 
with  so  generous  an  expression  of  esteem  and  confidence, 
ought  to  outweigh  all  merely  personal  desires  and  pref- 
erences of  my  own.  It  is  with  this  feeling,  and  I  trust 
also  from  a  deep  sense  of  public  duty,  that  I  now  accept 
the  nomination,  and  shall  abide  the  judgment  of  my 
countrymen. 

"It  would  have  been  impossible  for  me  to  accept  the 
nomination  if  I  could  not  heartily  endorse  the  platform 
of  the  Convention.  I  am  gratified,  therefore,  to  be  able 
unequivocally  to  declare  that  I  agree  in  the  principles, 
approve  the  policies,  and  sympathize  with  the  purposes 
enunciated  in  that  platform. 

"The  institutions  of  our   country  have  been    sorely 


HENDRICKS   OX  THE  TICKET  WITH  TILDEN. 

tried  by  the  exigencies  of  civil  war,  and,  since  the 
peace,  by  a  selfish  and  corrupt  management  of  public 
affairs,  which  has  shamed  us  before  civilized  mankind. 
By  unwise  and  partial  legislation  every  industry  and  in- 
terest of  the  people  have  been  made  to  suffer;  and  in  the 
executive  departments  of  the  Government  dishonesty, 
rapacity,  and  venality  have  debauched  the  public  ser- 
vice. Men  known  to  be  unworthy  have  been  promoted, 
while  others  have  been  degraded  for  fidelity  to  official 
duty.  Public  office  has  been  made  the  means  of  private 
profit,  and  the  country  has  been  offended  to  see  a  class 
of  men  who  boast  the  friendship  of  the  sworn  protectors 
of  the  State  amassing  fortunes  by  defrauding  the  public 
Treasury  and  by  corrupting  the  servants  of  the  people. 
In  such  a  crisis  of  the  history  of  the  country  I  rejoice 
that  the  Convention  at  St.  Louis  has  so  nobly  raised  the 
standard  of  reform.  Nothing  can  be  well  with  us  or 
with  our  affairs  until  the  public  conscience,  shocked  by 
the  enormous  evils  and  abuses  which  prevail,  shall  have 
demanded  and  compelled  an  unsparing  reformation  of 
our  national  Administration,  '  in  its  head  and  in  its 
members.'  In  such  a  reformation  the  removal  of  a 
single  officer,  even  the  President,  is  comparatively  a 
trifling  matter,  if  the  system  which  he  represents,  and 
which  has  fostered  him  as  he  has  fostered  it,  is  suffered 
to  remain.  The  President  alone  must  not  be  made  the 
scapegoat  for  the  enormities  of  the  system  which  infects 


HENDRICKS   ON  THE  TICKET  WITH  TILDEN.          285 

the  public  service  and  threatens  the  destruction  of  our 
institutions.  In  some  respects  I  hold  that  the  present 
Executive  has  been  the  victim  rather  than  the  author  of 
that  vicious  system.  Congressional  and  party  leaders 
have  been  stronger  than  the  President.  No  one  man 
could  have  created  it,  and  the  removal  of  no  one  man 
can  amend  it.  It  is  thoroughly  corrupt,  and  must  be 
swept  remorselessly  away  by  the  selection  of  a  Govern- 
ment composed  of  elements  entirely  new  and  pledged  to 
radical  reform. 

"  The  first  work  of  reform  must  evidently  be  the  res- 
toration of  the  normal  operation  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  with  all  its  amendments.  The  neces- 
sities of  war  cannot  be  pleaded  in  a  time  of  peace ;  the 
right  of  local  self-government  as  guaranteed  by  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  Union  must  be  everywhere  restored,  and 
the  centralized  (almost  personal)  imperialism  which  has 
been  practised  must  be  done  away,  or  the  first  principles 
of  the  republic  will  be  lost. 

"  Our  financial  system  of  expedients  must  be  reformed. 
Gold  and  silver  are  the  real  standard  of  values,  and  our 
national  currency  will  not  be  a  perfect  medium  of  ex- 
change until  it  shall  be  convertible  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
holder.  As  I  have  heretofore  said,  no  one  desires  a  re- 
turn to  specie  payments  more  earnestly  than  I  do ;  but  I 
do  not  believe  that  it  will  or  can  be  reached  in  harmony 
with  the  interests  of  the  people  by  artificial  measures  for 


286         HENDRICKS   ON   THE   TICKET   WITH   TILDEN. 

the  contraction  of  the  currency,  any  more  than  I  believe 
that  wealth  or  permanent  prosperity  can  be  created  by  an 
inflation  of  the  currency.  The  laws  of  finance  cannot  be 
disregarded  with  impunity.  The  financial  policy  of  the 
Government,  if  indeed  it  deserves  the  name  of  policy  at 
all,  has  been  in  disregard  of  those  laws,  and  therefore 
has  disturbed  commercial  and  business  confidence,  as 
well  as  hindered  a  return  to  specie  payments.  One  fea- 
ture of  that  policy  was  the  resumption  clause  of  the  act 
of  1875,  which  has  embarrassed  the  country  by  the 
anticipation  of  a  compulsory  resumption,  for  which  no 
preparation  was  made,  and  without  any  assurance  that 
it  would  be  practicable.  The  repeal  of  that  clause  is 
necessary,  that  the  natural  operation  of  financial  laws 
may  be  restored,  that  the  business  of  the  country  may  be 
relieved  from  its  disturbing  and  depressing  influence, 
and  that  a  return  to  specie  payments  may  be  facilitated 
by  the  substitution  of  wiser  and  more  prudent  legislation, 
which  shall  mainly  rely  on  a  judicious  system  of  public 
economies  and  official  retrenchments,  and,  above  all,  on 
the  promotion  of  prosperity  in  all  the  industries  of  the 
people. 

"  I  do  not  understand  the  repeal  of  the  resumption 
clause  of  the  act  of  1875  to  be  a  backward  step  in  our 
return  to  specie  payments,  but  the  recovery  of  a  false 
step;  and,  although  the  repeal  may  for  a  time  be  pre- 
vented, yet  the  determination  of  the  Democratic  Party 


HENDRICKS   ON   THE   TICKET   WITH   TILDEN.          287 

on  this  subject  has  now  been  distinctly  declared.  There 
should  be  no  hindrances  put  in  the  way  of  a  return  to 
specie  payments.  'As  such  a  hindrance,'  says  the  plat- 
form of  the  St.  Louis  Convention,  '  we  denounce  the  re- 
sumption clause  of  the  act  of  1S75,  and  demand  its  re- 
peal.' 

"  I  thoroughly  believe  that  by  public  economy,  by 
official  retrenchments,  and  by  wise  finance,  enabling  us 
to  accumulate  the  precious  metals,  resumption,  at  an  early 
period,  is  possible  without  producing  an  '  artificial 
scarcity  of  currency,'  or  disturbing  public  or  commer- 
cial credit:  and  that  these  reforms,  together  with  the 
restoration  of  pure  government,  will  restore  general  con- 
fidence, encourage  the  useful  investment  of  capital,  fur- 
nish employment  to  labor,  and  relieve  the  country  from 
the  '  paralysis  of  hard  times.' 

"With  the  industries  of  the  people  there  have  been 
frequent  interferences.  Our  platform  truly  says  that 
many  industries  have  been  impoverished  to  subsidize  a 
few.  Our  commerce  has  been  degraded  to  an  inferior 
position  on  the  high  seas ;  manufactures  have  been 
diminished ;  agriculture  has  been  embarrassed  ;  and  the 
distress  of  the  industrial  classes  demands  that  these  things 
shall  be  reformed. 

"  The  burdens  of  the  people  must  also  be  lightened  by 
a  great  change  in  our  system  of  public  expenses.  The 
profligate  expenditure  which  increased  taxation  from  five 


288         HENDRICKS   OX   THE   TICKET    WITH   TILDEN. 

dollars  per  capita  in  1860  to  eighteen  dollars  in  1870  tells 
its  own  story  of  our  need  of  fiscal  reform. 

'•  Our  treaties  with  foreign  powers  should  also  be  re- 
vised and  amended,  in  so  far  as  they  leave  citizens  of 
foreign  birth  in  any  particular  less  secure  in  any  country 
on  earth  than  they  would  be  if  they  had  been  born  upon 
our  own  soil ;  and  the  iniquitous  coolie  system,  which, 
through  the  agency  of  wealthy  companies,  imports 
Chinese  bondmen,  and  establishes  a  species  of  slavery,  and 
interferes  with  the  just  rewards  of  labor  on  our  Pacific 
coast,  should  be  utterly  abolished. 

"In  the  reform  of  our  civil  service,  I  most  heartily  in- 
dorse that  section  of  the  platform  which  declares  that  the 
civil  service  ought  not  to  be  'subject  to  change  at  every 
election,'  and  that  it  ought  not  to  be  made  '  the  brief  re- 
ward of  party  zeal,'  but  ought  to  be  awarded  for  proved 
competency,  and  held  for  fidelity  in  the  public  employ. 
I  hope  never  again  to  see  the  cruel  and  remorseless  pro- 
scription for  political  opinions  which  has  disgraced  the 
Administration  of  the  last  eight  years.  Bad  as  the  civil 
service  now  is,  as  all  know,  it  has  some  men  of  tried  in- 
tegrity and  proved  ability.  Such  men,  and  such  men 
only,  should  be  retained  in  office;  but  no  man  should  be 
retained,  on  any  consideration,  who  has  prostituted  his 
office  to  the  purposes  of  partisan  intimidation  of  com- 
pulsion, or  who  has  furnished  money  to  corrupt  the 
elections.  This  is  done,  and  has  been  done,  in  almost 


HENDRICKS   ON  THE  TICKET  WITH  TILDEN.         289 

every   connty  of   the   land.      It   is  a   blight   upon   the 
morals  of  the  country,  and  ought  to  be  reformed. 

"  Of  sectional  contentions  and  in  respect  to  our  com- 
mon schools  I  have  only  this  to  say  :  That,  in  my  judg- 
ment, the  man  or  party  that  would  involve  our  schools 
in  political  or  sectarian  controversy  is  an  enemy  to  the 
schools.  The  common  schools  are  safer  under  the  pro- 
tecting care  of  all  the  people  than  under  the  control  of 
any  party  or  sect.  They  must  be  neither  sectarian  nor 
partisan,  and  there  must  be  neither  division  nor  misap- 
propriation of  the  funds  for  their  support.  Likewise  I 
regard  the  man  who  would  arouse  or  foster  sectional  ani- 
mosities and  antagonisms  among  his  countrymen  as  a 
dangerous  enemy  to  his  country.  All  the  people  must  be 
made  to  feel  and  know  that  once  more  there  is  established 
a  purpose  and  policy  under  which  all  citizens  of  every 
condition,  race,  and  color  will  be  secure  in  the  enjoyment 
of  whatever  rights  the  Constitution  and  laws  declare  or 
recognize ;  and  that  in  controversies  that  may  arise  the 
Government  is  not  a  partisan,  but  within  its  constitutional 
authority  the  just  and  powerful  guardian  of  the  rights 
and  safety  of  all.  The  strife  between  the  sections  and 
between  races  will  cease  as  soon  as  the  power  for  evil  is 
taken  away  from  a  party  that  makes  political  gain  out  of 
scenes  of  violence  and  bloodshed,  and  the  constitutional 
authority  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  men  whose  political 


290         HENDRICKS   ON   THE   TICKET   WITH   TILDEtf. 

welfare  requires  that  peace  and  good  order  shall  be  pre- 
served everywhere. 

"It  will  be  seen,  gentlemen,  that  I  am  in  entire  accord 
with  the  platform  of  the  Convention  by  which  I  have 
been  nominated  as  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  Yice- 
President  of  the  United  States.  Permit  me,  in  conclu- 
sion, to  express  my  satisfaction  at  being  associated  with  a 
candidate  for  the  Presidency  who  is  first  among  his 
equals  as  a  representative  of  the  spirit  and  of  the  achieve- 
ments of  reform.  In  his  official  career  as  the  Executive 
of  the  great  State  of  New  York,  he  has,  in  a  compara- 
tively short  period,  reformed  the  public  service  and  re- 
duced the  public  burdens,  so  as  to  have  earned  at  once 
the  gratitude  of  his  State  and  the  admiration  of  the 
country.  The  people  know  him  to  be  thoroughly  in 
earnest;  he  has  shown  himself  to  be  possessed  of  powers 
and  qualities  which  fit  him  in  an  eminent  degree  for  the 
great  work  of  reformation  which  this  country  now  needs ; 
and  if  he  shall  be  chosen  by  the  people  to  the  high  office 
of  President  of  the  United  States,  I  believe  that  the  day 
of  his  inauguration  will  be  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  of 
peace,  purity,  and  prosperity,  in  all  departments  of  our 
Government. 

"  I  am,  gentlemen,  your  obedient  servant, 

"  THOMAS  A.  HENDKICKS." 


HENDRICKS  ON  THE  TICKET  WITH  TILDEST.         291 
THE    RESULT    OF    THE    ELECTION    IN    DOUBT. 

The  result  of  the  election  remained  long  in  doubt. 
The  popular  vote  was  reported  as  giving  Messrs.  Tilden 
and  Hendricks  a  majority  of  250,935  over  Messrs.  Hayes 
and  Wheeler,  but  charges  of  fraud  at  the  polls  in  various 
Southern  States  left  the  result  undecided  with  reference 
to  the  electoral  vote,  and  a  painful  suspense  extended 
throughout  the  country,  which  was  by  no  means  allayed 
when  Congress  assembled  in  December. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1877  the  country  was 
still  in  a  state  of  great  excitement  concerning  the  result 
of  the  Presidential  election.  The  votes  of  Florida,  Loui- 
siana, and  South  Carolina  were  counted  by  the  can- 
vassing boards  with  a  result  in  favor  of  the  Republican 
Presidential  election.  This,  in  the  canvass  by  Congress 
of  all  the  State  returns  of  the  Presidential  election, 
would  give  the  Republican  candidate,  Mr.  Hayes,  one 
majority  and  secure  his  election.  The  Democrats,  how- 
ever, asserted  that  the  canvassing  boards  in  each  of  the 
above  mentioned  States  had  made  an  unjust  return  ;  that 
the  popular  vote  in  each  had  been  in  favor  of  the  Demo- 
cratic electors  by  a  large  majority  ;  that  legal  votes  in 
large  numbers  had  been  rejected  ;  and  that  the  Democra- 
tic candidate  had  been  elected  by  the  people.  The  certi- 
ficates of  the  results  in  each  State,  sent  to  Washington 
under  the  official  seal  of  the  respective  governors,  gave 


292         HENDRICKS   ON  THE  TICKET  WITH  TILDEN. 

the  election  to  Mr.  Hayes  by  one  vote.  At  tins  time 
the  lower  House  was  largely  Democratic,  the  Senate 
Republican,  and  the  Chief  Executive  (Grant)  a  Repub- 
lican. Under  these  circumstances  an  act  was  passed  to 
refer  all  contested  cases  to  a  Commission  consisting  of 
Senators,  Representatives,  and  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court. 

If  the  Commission  decided  according  to  the  face  of  the 
certificates,  the  Republican  candidate  would  be  elected ; 
if  it  decided  to  investigate  the  local  proceedings  in  the 
contested  States  prior  to  the  issue  of  certificates,  the  re- 
sult might  be  reversed  and  the  Democratic  candidate 
obtain  the  prize.  The  Democrats  urged  an  investigation, 
but  the  Commission  refused  to  go  behind  the  face  of  the 
certificates,  and  Mr.  Hayes  was  declared  elected. 

MB.    HENDRICKS'S    ATTITUDE     PENDING   A    DECISION. 

Mr.  Hendricks,  pending  the  decision  of  the  question 
which  involved  his  succession  to  the  Vice-Presidency, 
maintained  a  calm  and  dignified  attitude  throughout, 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  over-zealous  friends  urged 
Mr.  Tilden  and  himself  to  take  their  seats  by  force  if 
necessary.  Mr.  Hendricks  made  no  attempt  to  change 
the  result  declared  by  the  Electoral  Commission,  having 
promised  on  the  creation  of  that  body  to  abide  by  its 
decision. 

In  a  speech  delivered  by  him  in  the  summer  of  1877, 


HENDKICKS   ON  THE  TICKET  WITH  TILDES.         293 

at  a  reception  tendered  by  the  Manhattan  Club  in  New 
York,  he  spoke  fully  and  freely  on  the  result  of  the 
election  in  which  he  had  been  such  a  conspicuous  figure. 
The  historical  value  attaching  to  his  remarks  upon  one 
of  the  most  interesting  episodes  in  our  history  requires 
the  presentation  of  his  words  in  this  place.  He  said : 

"  Very  recently  the  Democrats  of  this  great  city  and  of 
the  State  of  Indiana,  as  of  all  the  other  States,  contended 
for  and  demanded  the  restoration  of  local  self-government 
in  all  the  States  where  it  had  been  denied.  They  contended 
for  economy  in  all  the  expenditures  of  the  Government. 
They  contended  for  the  reduction  of  the  vast  army  of 
office-holders,  and  for  the  substitution  of  honest  for  dis- 
honest administration.  "With  such  a  cause  to  fight  for — 
a  grand  one — the  victory  was  a  glorious  one.  I  will  not 
disturb  the  pleasure  of  this  occasion  by  undertaking  to 
recount  the  means  adopted  whereby  the  will  and  the  judg- 
ment of  the  people  were  defeated.  The  result  as 
declared  in  Louisiana,  in  Florida,  and  at  "Washington  is 
not  acquiesced  in,  and  it  cannot  be  acquiesced  in,  for  the 
palpable  reason  that  it  was  not  true.  A  great  and  a  sin- 
cere people  can  found  their  ultimate  decision  only  upon 
the  truth,  and  never  upon  fraud  successful  through 
technicality. 

"  Even  should  the  President  and  his  Cabinet  adopt  a 
part  or  all  of  the  political  policies  and  purposes  for  which 
the  Democratic  Party  has  been  contending  for  so 


294         HENDRICKS   ON  THE  TICKET  WITH  TILDEtf. 

years,  even  that  will  not  bring  about  an  acquiescence, 
will  not  quiet  the  public  discontent.  The  Democrats 
will  not  consent  that  their  most  cherished  principles  shall 
be  under  the  protecting  care  of  a  power  which  was 
acquired  by  fraudulent  and  corrupt  means.  The  Demo- 
crats will  make  no  factious  opposition  to  the  de facto 
opposition  at  Washington.  They  will  acquiesce  in  the 
fact  that  it  is  an  administration,  and  will  support  it  in 
that  which  is  right  because  it  is  right  and  because  it  is  for 
the  public  good,  but  not  at  all  because  of  any  fealty  to 
the  party  that  stands  defeated  and  condemned  by  the 
people.  The  people  cannot  allow  that  the  selection  of 
their  Chief  Magistrate  shall  become  a  thing  of  chance  or  of 
sharp  practice.  The  fraud  first  triumphant  in  American 
history  must  be  assigned  its  proper  place  among  the 
crimes  against  free  and  popular  government,  and  be  made 
so  odious  that  no  party  in  the  future  will  dare  to  attempt 
its  repetition.  He  who  is  elected  President  must  be  in- 
augurated ever  hereafter.  Until  that  is  settled  and  made 
sure  forever  no  Democrat  can  be  persuaded  or  seduced 
from  his  devotion  and  allegiance  to  the  party  by  the 
allurements  of  office,  nor  even  by  the  stronger  appeal  of 
the  abandonment  by  the  Administration  of  political 
principles  that  we  dislike  and  the  adoption  of  better 
doctrines  and  just  measures.  The  Democrats  will  rather 
continue  their  faith  in  the  right  of  the  majority  to  rule 
according  to  constitutional  provisions. 


HENDRICKS   OK  THE  TICKET  WITH  TILDES.          295 

"  All  Democrats  rejoice  with  unbounded  joy  that  free 
republican  governments  have  been  allowed  in  the  States 
of  South  Carolina  and  Louisiana.  They  rejoice  in  the 
good  fruits  that  will  follow.  We  all  know  that  peace 
and  order  will  prevail.  We  know  that  prosperity  will 
return  to  those  States,  and  that  they  will  continue  to  give 
prosperity  to  our  country.  We  all  know  that  the  bur- 
dens of  bad  government,  the  burdens  of  public  corruption, 
will  be  taken  from  the  shoulders  of  labor ;  that  capital 
will  be  made  more  secure,  and  labor  safer  and  con- 
tented and  happy.  We  all  know,  too,  that  production 
will  increase,  and  that  as  a  consequence  there  will  be 
prosperity  in  those  States,  which  will  be  the  prosperity 
of  every  part  of  the  country.  But  Democrats  know  very 
well  that  this  had  become  inevitable.  For  many  years 
the  Democrats  had  contended  in  Congress  and  before  the 
people  in  favor  of  the  restoration  of  the  republican  gov- 
ernments in  all  the  States  of  the  South. 

"  They  had  contended  for  that  with  such  zeal  and  ear- 
nestness that  it  could  be  no  longer  resisted,  because  truth 
and  right  were  too  strong  to  be  controlled  in  favor  of 
wrong  any  more.  In  this  Democrats  find  a  reason  to 
stand  the  more  firmly  by  their  party.  I  hear  every  now 
and  then  the  suggestion  that  some  Democrat,  either 
-North  or  South,  will  join  some  Hayes  party.  It  will  not 
occur.  Out  of  power,  without  patronage  and  without 
money  to  distribute,  the  Democratic  Party  during  these 


296         HENDRICKS   ON"  THE  TICKET  WITH  TILDEN. 

last  ten  years  have  restored  one  State  after  another,  until 
now  the  tread  of  soldiery  is  heard  in  no  legislative  hall ; 
until  now,  in  every  State  of  our  Union,  the  people  are 
governed  by  laws  of  their  own  enacting  and  officers  of 
their  own  choosing." 

"  I  have  but  one  word  more  to  say.  The  outrage  upon 
the  rights  of  the  people — not  upon  me  and  not  upon  Mr. 
Tilden,  except  that  we  are  citizens  of  the  country — the 
outrage  upon  the  people  in  the  act  that  denies  to  the  peo- 
ple their  own  selection  of  the  public  officers  according 
to  the  law  and  the  Constitution,  that  wrong  will  work, 
as  has  been  suggested,  its  own  reform. 

"I  have  no  fear  of  the  future.  Even  if  the  adminis- 
tration that  is  now  in  power  shall  take  Democratic  princi- 
ples and  ideas  and  undertake  to  build  prosperity  upon  them, 
it  can  never  gain  the  confidence  and  the  heart  of  the 
American  people.  And  it  will  never  do  to  say  that  when 
one  man  has  taken  the  land  that  belongs  to  another  by  a 
title  that  is  not  good,  and  holds  it,  that  it  is  sufficient  to  say 
that  that  man  who  holds  the  land  wrongfully  will  culti- 
vate it  better  than  the  true  owner  would  have  done. 
Before  we  reach  that  question  we  will  settle  the  question, 
Who  owns  the  land  ?  It  is  not  because  Mr.  Tilden  has 
been  wronged,  but  it  is  because  the  voice  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  has  been  ignored  when  that  voice  was  speaking 
according  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  And 
I  fear  not  the  result,  as  I  have  already  said.  A  great  and 


HENDRICKS   ON  THE  TICKET  WITH  TILDES.         297 

a  sincere  people  will  base  their  judgment  and  final 
action  upon  the  truth.  Democratic  principles  will  be 
carried  out  into  the  affairs  of  government  by  Democrats 
and  such  fair-minded  Republicans  as  will  not  make  them- 
selves a  party  to  the  wrong  that  was  done  last  winter." 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


MR.  HENDRICKS'S  CONTROVERSY  WITH 
SECRETARY  (HANDLER. 

Hendricks's  Speech  at  Indianapolis  charging  Fraud  in  a  Bureau  of 
the  Navy  Department. — He  suggests  that  the  President  Institute  an 
Inquiry  ami  Order  an  Examination  of  the  Books. — Secretary  Chand- 
ler's Lame  Reply. — A  Vain  Attempt  to  Shift  the  Responsibility. — 
Heudricks's  Characteristic  Rejoinder. — His  Charges  Substantiated  by 
Chandler's  own  Admissions.  —  Comments  of  the  Press  approving 
Hendricks's  Onslaught  upon  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy. — "Little 
Billy"  and  his  Naval  Equipment  Lifted  out  of  the  Water. 

Twenty-four  hours  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Chi- 
cago Convention  at  which  Mr.  Ilemlricks  received  the 
nomination  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  and  before  it  was 
known  whether  he  would  accept  the  honor  unexpectedly 
thrust  upon  him,  in  a  speech  delivered  at  Indianapolis  he 
sounded  the  key-note  of  his  canvass  by  calling  public  at- 
tention to  a  case  of  irregularity  on  the  part  of  one  of  the 
officers  of  the  Navy  Department  at  "Washington,  under 
the  administration  of  William  E.  Chandler  as  Secretary. 
The  episode  was  significant  as  showing  the  spirit  with 
which  Mr.  Hendricks  entered  the  campaign.  lie  said: 

"A  month  ago  everybody  supposed  that  all  the  em- 


HENDRICKS'S   CONTROVERSY    WITH    CHANDLER.       299 

ployes  in  the  Bureau  of  Medicine  and  Surgery  were  hon- 
est, and  now,  at  the  very  first  examination,  it  turns  out 
they  are  not.  But  what  is  the  remedy?  Put  them  out 
and  put  honest  men  in.  We  cannot  do  that  if  we  leave 
the  same  President  and  heads  of  departments  and  heads 
of  bureaus  in.  I  will  tell  you  what  we  need — Democrats 
and  Republicans  will  alike  agree  upon  that — we  need  to 
have  the  books  in  the  government  offices  opened  for  ex- 
amination. Do  you  think  that  men  in  this  age  never 
yield  to  temptation  ?  It  is  only  two  years  ago  that  one 
of  the  Secretaries  at  Washington  was  called  before  a 
Senate  committee  to  testify  in  regard  to  the  condition  of 
his  department.  In  that  department  was  the  Bureau  of 
Medicine  and  Surgery.  In  that  department  an  examina- 
tion was  being  made  by  the  committee  from  the  Senate, 
and  it  was  ascertained  by  the  oath  of  the  Secretary  who 
sits  at  the  head  of  the  department  that  the  defalcation 
found  during  the  last  year,  as  far  as  it  had  been  estimated, 
was  sixty-three  thousand  dollars,  and  when  asked  about 
it  he  said  that  he  had  received  a  letter  a  year  ago  inform- 
ing him  of  some  of  these  outrages,  and  that  a  short  time 
since  somebody  had  come  to  him  and  told  him  that  there 
were  frauds  going  on  in  the  service,  but  that  members  of 
Congress  had  recommended  the  continuance  of  the  head 
of  the  bureau  with  such  earnestness  that  he  thought  it 
must  be  all  right.  And  now  it  turns  out  that  the  public 
is  sixty-three  thousand  dollars  out,  and  how  much  more 


300     HENDRICKS'S   CONTROVERSY   WITH   CHANDLER, 

no  man,  I  expect,  can  now  tell.  But  what  is  the  remedy  ? 
'To  have  a  President  that  will  appoint  a  head  of  bureau 
who  will  investigate  the  condition  of  the  books  and  bring 
all  the  guilty  parties  to  trial." 

6ECRETARY    CHANDLER'S    LAME   REPLY. 

To  this  thrust  of  Mr.  Hendricks,  Secretary  Chandler 
at  once  addressed  a  reply,  in  which  he  said  : 

"Sin:  A  candidate  for  Vice-President  should  speak 
with  decent  fairness.  In  your  speech  at  Indianapolis  last 
Saturday  night  you  made  statements  from  which  you 
meant  that  the  public  should  believe  that  it  appeared  by 
my  testimony  that  the  frauds  in  the  Bureau  of  Medicine 
and  Surgery  of  this  department  amounted  during  the 
past  year  to  sixty-three  thousand  dollars ;  that  I  was  in- 
formed of  some  of  these  outrages  a  year  ago ;  that  after 
I  was  informed  of  the  frauds  I  disbelieved  them  because 
members  of  Congress  had  recommended  the  continuance 
of  the  chief  of  the  bureau,  and  that  I  took  no  adequate 
action  concerning  them,  whereupon  you  demanded  the 
election  of  a  President  who  would  appoint  a  chief  of  the 
bureau  who  would  investigate  the  condition  of  the  books 
and  bring  all  the  guilty  parties  to  trial. 

"  To  the  contrary  of  all  this  I  testified  that  the  sus- 
pected vouchers  commenced  as  far  back  as  June  21, 1880, 
although  a  small  voucher  was  paid  as  late  as  January  ii.">, 
1884;  that  while  an  anonymous  letter  of  about  a  year 


HENDKICKS'S   CONTIIOVERSY    WITH   CHANDLER.      301 

ago  charged  drunkenness  upon  the  chief  clerk,  Daniel 
Carrigan,  which  the  chief  of  the  bureau,  Dr.  Philip  S. 
"Wales,  reported  to  me  was  not  true,  I  had  no  informa- 
tion leading  to  the  frauds  until  December  or  January 
last;  that  I  determined  simultaneously  with  beginning 
the  investigation  to  have  a  new  chief  of  the  bureau  in 
place  of  Dr.  Wales,  whose  term  was  to  expire  January 
26,  and  also  a  new  chief  clerk ;  that  great  opposition  to 
the  change  was  made  by  members  of  Congress,  but  I  per- 
sisted, and  Dr.  Wales  went  out  on  that  date.  Carrigan, 
was  put  out  February  4,  and  the  investigation  of  frauds 
and  the  arrest  of  guilty  parties  have  since  proceeded  with 
due  diligence. 

"  It  is  true  that  I  stated  that  the  recommendations  for 
reappointment  of  Dr.  Wales,  whom  I  found  in  office 
when  I  went  in,  April  7,  1882,  were  of  such  a  character 
as  to  fully  justify  me  in  believing  that  the  affairs  of  his 
bureau  had  been  well  administered.  Senator  McPher- 
son  wrote  the  following  letter : 

"  '  UNITED  STATES  SENATE, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  Dec.  18,  1883. 
"  '  To  the  President. 

" '  SIR  :  As  the  term  of  office  of  Surgeon-General 
Wales,  of  the  Navy  Department,  is  soon  to  expire,  and 
considering  it  not  a  political  office,  I  presume,  as  I  am  a 
perfect  prodigal  with  the  article  of  advice,  to  ask,  for  the 
good  of  everybody  and  everything  relating  to  that  ser- 


302      HENDRICKS'S   CONTROVERSY    WITH    CHANDLER. 

vice,  that  you  reappoint  him.  I  do  this  because  he  is  an 
excellent  officer,  having  ability  and  energy — qualities  not 
general  in  the  naval  service,  and  which,  I  think,  should 
be  nourished  when  discovered.  I  feel  sure  if  any  officer 
lias  deserved  such  recognition  from  the  appointing  power 
by  reason  of  faithful  and  efficient  service  in  the  past, 
that  officer  is  Surgeon-General  Wales. 

"'I  am  yours  with  great  respect, 

«'J.    II.     Mrl'llKKSON. 

"  <  To  Hon.  C.  A.  Arthur,  President: 

"A  petition  for  reappointment,  written  by  Carrigan, 
was  sent  to  the  President,  headed  by  J.  G.  Carlisle,  fol- 
lowed by  Phil.  B.  Thompson,  Jr.,  Leopold  Morse,  R.  II. 
M.  Davidson,  D.  Wyutt.  Aiken,  William  McAdoo, 
George  D.  Wise,  John  C.  XiclmlLs,  P.  A.  Collins, 
H.  B.  Lovering,  Robert  B.  Vance,  D.  W.  Connolly, 
Charles  B.  Love,  Albert  S.  Willis,  Carleton  Hunt, 
G.  W.  Hewitt,  William  H.  Fiedler,  and  others,  represen- 
tatives in  Congress,  saying  of  Dr.  Wales,  'IK:  lias  ad- 
ministered the  affairs  of  that  bureau  during  the  last  four 
years  with  signal  ability  and  success.' 

"United  States  Senators  McPherson,  Butler,  Brown, 
Colquitt,  Beck,  Williams,  C.  W.  Jones,  Ransom,  and 
thirty-two  other  Senators,  also  using  Carrigan  as  their 
writer,  petitioned  for  Dr.  Wales's  reappointment,  stating 
that 'his  administrative  capacity  has  been  fully  demon- 


HENDRICKS'S   CONTROVERSY   WITH   CHANDLER.      303 

strated  by  the  successful  management  of  the  bureau  of 
which  he  now  has  charge.' 

"  Senator  McPherson  and  Speaker  Carlisle  and  others 
of  the  most  prominent  of  these  gentlemen,  who  demanded 
Dr.  Wales's  reappointment,  were  with  you  in  the  Con- 
vention at  Chicago  and  could  have  informed  you  that  he 
had  borne  a  good  reputation ;  that  the  law  required  that 
the  chief  of  the  bureau  should  be  a  naval  surgeon,  and 
placed  the  medical  expenditures  in  his  hands ;  that  hi? 
was  in  no  sense  a  political  office,  but  that  if  he  had  any 
politics,  he  was  a  Democrat,  and  that  any  attempt  to 
make  political  capital  out  of  frauds  for  which  this  naval 
surgeon,  who  is  their  intimate  friend,  is  solely  responsible, 
would  be  disingenuous  and  unfair.  That  they  did  not 
succeed  in  keeping  Dr.  "Wales  and  his  chief  clerk,  Carri- 
gan,  in  office  is  very  fortunate. 

"  Yours  respectfully,         ~W.  E.  CHANDLER." 

HENDRICKS'S    CONVINCING   REJOINDER. 

Mr.  Hendricks,  however,  did  not  regard  the  Secretary's 
reply  as  by  any  means  disproving  his  charges  of  irregu- 
larities alleged  to  have  occurred  in  his  department,  and 
forthwith  addressed  Mr.  Chandler  as  follows : 

"  INDIANAPOLIS,  IND.,  July  14,  1884. 
"Jlon.  W.R  Chandler. 

"  SIR  :  I  find  in  the  newspapers  this  morning  a 
letter  to  me  from  yourself,  written  yesterday  and 


304     HEXDRICKS'S   CONTROVERSY   WITH   CHANDLER. 

circulated  through  the  Associated  Press.  You  com- 
plain that  I  did  you  injustice  in  an  address  to  the 
people  of  this  city,  made  the  evening  before.  In 
that  address  I  urged  that  '  we  need  to  have  the  books  in 
the  government  offices  opened  for  examination  ;'  and,  as 
an  illustration,  I  cited  the  case  of  a  fraudulent  voucher 
in  one  of  the  bureaus  of  your  department,  and  stated 
that  uppn  your  testimony  before  a  sub-committee  of  the 
Senate  it  appeared  that  the  frauds  amounted  to  $63,000  : 
and  is  not  every  word  of  that  true?  You  were  brought 
before  the  committee  and  testified  as  I  stated.  You  ad- 
mitted under  oath  that  the  sum  of  money  lost  amounted 
to  $63,000  ;  but  your  defence  was  that  the  embezzlement 
did  not  wholly  occur  under  your  administration,  but  that 
a  part  of  it  was  under  that  of  your  predecessor.  It 
seems  to  have  covered  the  period  from  June  21,  1880, 
down  to  January  25,  1884.  Does  that  help  your  case? 
You  were  at  the  head  of  the  department  a  year  and  nine 
months  of  that  period,  and  your  predecessor  about  one 
year  and  ten  months.  He  was  in  office  at  the  pay- 
ment of  the  first  false  voucher,  on  July  21,  1880,  and  up 
to  April  17,  1882.  when  you  came  in,  and  yon  continued 
thence  until  the  last  false  voucher  was  paid,  January 
25,  1884.  The  period  was  almost  equally  divided  be- 
tween yourself  and  your  predecessor.  How  much  of  the 
$63,000  was  paid  out  under  yourself  and  how  much 
under  your  predecessor  your  letter  does  not  show. 


HENDRICKS'S    CONTROVERSY   WITH    CHANDLER.       305 

"But,  sir,  upon  tlie  question  that  I  was  discussing, 
does  it  make  any  difference  who  was  Secretary  when  the 
false  vouchers  were  paid  ?  I  urged  that  in  cases  like  this, 
when  frauds  are  concocted  in  the  vaults  or  in  the  books 
of  the  department,  tiie  only  remedy  of  the  people  is  by 
a  change  in  the  control,  so  that  the  books  and  vouchers 
shall  come  under  the  examination  of  new  and  disinter- 
ested men.  Do  you  think  I  am  answered  when  you  say 
I  was  mistaken  in  supposing  that  in  this  case  the  frauds 
were  all  under  your  administration  when  in  fact  a  part 
of  them  extended  back  into  that  of  your  predecessors  ? 
Why,  sir,  that  makes  your  case  worse.  For  the  Bureau 
of  Medicine  and  Surgery  the  defalcation  is  large  ;  but  the 
more  serious  fact  is  that  it  could  and  did  extend  through 
two  administrations  of  the  department,  a  period  of  nearly 
four  years,  without  detection.  But  it  becomes  more  seri- 
ous, so  far  as  you  are  individually  concerned,  when  the 
fact  is  considered  that  you  had  notice  and  yet  took  no 
sufficient  action.  The  information  upon  which  I  spoke 
was  from  Washington,  the  26t.h  of  last  month,  by  the 
Associated  Press,  the  same  that  brings  me  your  letter. 
The  Associated  Press  obtained  its  information  either  in 
your  department  or  from  the  investigating  committee. 
If  you  were  not  correctly  reported,  that  was  the  time  for 
complaint  and  correction.  You  testified  that  the  total  of 
the  suspicious  vouchers  discovered  was  about  $68,000, 
and  that  the  money  fraudulently  obtained  was  in  some 


306      IIEXDRICKS'S    CONTROVERSY    WITH    CHANDLER. 

instances  divided  between  a  watchman  in  the  department, 
Carrigan,  a  chief  clerk,  and  Kirk  wood,  in  charge  of  the 
accounts.  Now,  what  notice  had  yon?  According  to 
the  Associated  Press  report  of  your  testimony,  yon  re- 
ceived a  letter  last  year  charging  Carrigan,  one  of  the 
parties,  with  drunkenness :  and  after  that  a  man  came  to 
you  and  told  you  that  Kirkwood  and  Carrigan  were  en- 
gaged in  frauds.  Did  not  that  put  you  upon  notice  and 
investigation?  You  testified  that  some  inquiry  was 
made  and  the  conclusion  was  that,  while  there  were  some 
suspicious  circumstances,  they  did  not  warrant  a  conclu- 
sion of  guilt.  After  a  notice,  verbal  or  in  writing,  v«u 
left  the  men  in  office.  You  did  not  bring  the  frauds  to 
light,  nor  the  guilty  parties  to  punishment.  It  was  Gov- 
ernment Detective  Wood  who  discovered  the  frauds ; 
and  the  Associated  Press  report  says  that  "Wood  declared 
he  would  have  no  further  dealings  with  your  department, 
but  would  press  an  investigation  before  Congress. 

"What  is  your  next  excuse?  Worse,  if  possible,  than 
all  before.  You  say  a  large  number  of  Congressmen,  in- 
cluding some  gentleman  of  great  influence  and  position, 
recommended  that  the  head  of  the  bureau,  Dr.  Wales, 
should  be  appointed.  Members  of  Congress  knew  noth- 
ing of  the  frauds  ;  they  had  no  opportunity  to  know. 
It  was  within  your  reach  and  duty.  They  were  probably 
his  personal  friends  ;  you  were  his  official  superior.  I5ur, 
in  fact,  did  you  reappoint  him?  I  understand  not.  Per- 


HENDRICKS'S   CONTROVERSY    WITH    CHANDLER.      30? 

haps  the  detective  discovered  the  frauds  too  soon.  But 
Dr.  Wales  was  not  one  of  the  three  guilty  parties.  lie 
neither  forged  the  vouchers  nor  embezzled  the  money. 
His  responsibility  in  the  case  is  just  the  same  as  your 
own.  He  was  the  official  superior  of  the  three  rogues, 
as  you  were  of  himself  as  well  as  of  them.  Neither  he 
nor  yourself  exposed  the  frauds  or  punished  the  parties. 
I  have  not  thought  or  considered  this  as  a  case  of  politics. 
Addressing  my  neighbors,  I  said  that  this  and  like  cases 
admonish  them  to  demand  civil-service  reform  in  the  re- 
moval of  all  from  office  who  seek  to  promote  it  within 
the  sphere  of  their  official  duty  and  authority. 

"  Respectfully, 

"T.  A.  HENDRICKS." 

COMMENTS   OF   THE   PRESS   ON   THE    EPISODE. 

As  a  result  of  Mr.  Hendricks's  allegations  several  gov- 
ernment officers  were  promptly  indicted  by  the  grand 
jury  at  Washington.  The  spicy  correspondence  was 
widely  published  throughout  the  country,  and  freely 
commented  upon.  The  New  York  Herald  said  : 

"Mr.  Chandler  does  not  make  a  good  defence.  As 
head  of  the  department  he  is  responsible  for  the  con- 
duct of  his  subordinates,  and  it  is  significant  that  for 
four  years  false  vouchers  had  been  passed  in  the  bureau 
without  discovery.  The  fact  that  Senators  and  Repre- 
sentatives signed  recommendations  for  the  retention  in 


308     HEN-DRTOKS'S    CONTROVERSY    WITH    CHAXDLER. 

office  of  tlie  persons  guilty  of  fraud  does  not  relieve 
Secretary  Chandler  of  any  blame  in  the  matter.  lie, 
as  a  politician  of  the  old  school,  ought  to  know  how 
much  such  '  recommendations '  are  worth — about  as 
much  as  party  platforms.  To  undertake  to  lay  the  fault 
at  the  doors  of  these  members  of  Congress,  whose  recom- 
mendation was  rejected,  is  disingenuous,  and  is  an  at- 
tempt to  shirk  responsibility  and  throw  tlie  blame 
where  it  does  not  belong.  We  fear  that  it  is  Secretary 
Chandler  who  is  trying  to  make  political  capital." 

"LITTLE  BILLY"  LIFTED  OUT  OF  THE  WATER. 

The  following  humorous  editorial  comment  appeared 
in  a  prominent  Georgia  newspaper: 

"Mr.  Hendrickfl  gave  an  informal  notice  of  his  ac- 
ceptance of  the  nomination  in  his  speech  to  his  neigh- 
bors in  Indianapolis  ;  and  he  has  sent  a  fervid  letter  of 
acceptance  to  little  Billy  Chandler,  which  has  had  the 
effect  of  lifting  little  Billy  and  his  entire  naval  equip- 
ment out  of  the  water." 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


MR  HENDRICKS'S  YIEWS  ON  PUBLIC 
MEASURES. 

Speech  at  New  Orleans  on  the  Southern  Question. — The  Fifteenth 
Amendment  and  the  Rights  of  the  Colored  Race. — The  Equality  of 
the  Whites  and  the  Blacks  not  one  to  be  Regulated  by  Law. — A 
Demand  for  Equal  Laws  and  Just  Taxation. — "The  Judgment  of 
Mankind  Mightier  than  the  Earthquake." — Mr.  Hendricks  in  the 
Indiana  Campaign  of  1874. — His  Reply  to  the  Address  of  the  Con- 
gressional Committee. — He  Repels  the  Charge  that  the  Republicans 
are  Better  than  the  Democrats. — The  Case  of  Martin  Koszta. — Mr. 
Hendricks  Denounces  the  Proposition  to  Vote  National  Aid  for 
Building  Transportation  Lines.— Reform  in  our  Revenue  System 
and  Civil  Service. 

MR.  HENDRICKS,  after  his  retirement  from  the 
Senate  in  1869,  returned  to  his  home  and  at  once  re- 
sumed the  practice  of  his  profession.  But  while  he 
devoted  himself  to  the  law,  he  did  not  remain  silent  on 
the  political  issues  of  the  day. 

SPEECH    AT   NEW    ORLEANS    ON   THE    SOUTHERN   QUESTION. 

As  illustrating  his  views  on  the  Southern  question,  an 
extract  from  a  speech  delivered  by  Mr.  Hendricks  in 
New  Orleans,  in  February,  1870,  is  given,  as  follows : 


310  MB.    HBKDKICKS'S   VIEWS   ON   PUBLIC   MEASURES. 

"In  one  way  or  other  the  radicals  intend  to  have  it  a 
fixed  fact  that  the  Fifteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitu- 
tion has  been  adopted.  Right  or  wrong,  they  intend  it 
shall  be  declared  adopted  as  a  part  of  the  Constitution'  of 
the  United  States.  Under  that  provision,  then,  when  it 
shall  have  been  declared  to  have  been  adopted,  the 
colored  people  of  the  whole  country  become  voters  ;  they 
become  clothed  with  political  rights,  as  they  have  been 
before  by  Congressional  action,  as  far  as  Congress  could 
do  it,  clothed  with  civil  rights.  It  is  a  question  for  you 
to  consider  very  carefully  what  attitude  you  men  of  the 
South  shall  occupy  toward  the  colored  population. 
There  is  a  deliberate  purpose  on  the  part  of  adventurers 
from  the  North — a  class  of  men  who  are  described  as 
4  carpet-baggers' — to  appropriate  the  entire  colored  vote 
of  the  South  to  their  cause.  And  what  is  their  cause  ? 
It  is  not  your  cause  ;  it  is  not  the  colored  men's  cause ;  it 
is  the  cause  of  plunder.  And  the  question  presents  itself 
in  this  form  :  Are  you,  men  of  the  South,  willing  that 
these  adventurers  shall  appropriate  that  large  vote — in 
some  of  the  Southern  States  a  majority  of  the  entire 
vote  ?  Are  you  willing  that  this  vote  shall  be  appro- 
priated for  such  a  purpose?  How  can  we  help  it? 
Simply  enough.  It  is  a  question  simply  of  personal  in- 
fluence between  you,  men  of  the  South,  '  to  the  manner 
born,'  and  those  who  have  settled  here,  on  the  one  side, 
and  these  haphazard  adventurers  of  the  North  on  the 


MR.    HENDRICKS'S  VIEWS   OJT   PUBLIC   MEASURES.    311 

other  side.  That  is  the  way  the  question  stands.  New 
relations  have  come  to  exist  between  you  and  the  colored 
people  of  the  South.  How  will  you  place  yourselves  in 
regard  to  these  new  relations  ?  They  have  not  been  of 
your  seeking,  and  they  may,  perhaps,  not  have  been 
sought  by  the  negro  ;  but  he  is  a  voter  in  Louisiana,  as 
he  will  be  in  Indiana,  if  the  Fifteenth  Amendment  is  de- 
clared adopted  ;  and  it  is  not  worth  your  while,  nor  is  it 
worth  my  while,  to  go  back  on  the  fixed  fact. 

"  That  traveller  in  the  mountain-pass  is  not  wise, 
when  he  overtakes  the  storm,  to  be  casting  his  eyes  back 
upon  the  plain  which  he  has  left.  It  is  his  business  to 
consider  the  dangers  which  menace  him  at  the  time,  and 
to  save  himself  from  the  threatened  peril.  How  can  you 
do  it  ?  These  new  relations  are  upon  you.  How  are 
you  to  conduct  yourselves  toward  the  colored  people  ? 
They  were  your  friends.  There  were  social  relations 
between  you — the  relations  of  master  and  servant.  They 
had  your  confidence,  and  you  had  theirs.  Is  it  possible 
that  the  stranger  can  now  come  in  and  make  these 
ancient  servants  of  yours  his  servants  and  your  enemies  ? 
There  is  no  occasion,  in  these  new  relations  which  were 
forced  upon  you,  that  you  should  entertain  sentiments  of 
dislike  to  the  negro  because  of  it.  It  is  not  of  his  seek- 
ing ;  he  did  not  produce  this  change  of  relations.  The 
altered  condition  of  things  has  been  forced  on  the  coun- 
try and  on  you,  not  by  the  colored  man,  but  by  ambi- 


312    MR.    HENDRICKS'S  TIEWS   ON   PUBLIC   MEASURES. 

tious  politicians,  North  and  South,  who  wish  to  make 
capital  out  of  it.  I  hope  to  see  Southern  men  takin.g 
this  weapon  which  is  placed  in  their  hands  and  using  it 
for  their  country's  good.  You  have  no  cause  to  enter- 
tain prejudice  against  the  colored  people.  When  your 
young  men  were  far  off  in  the  field,  and  even  your  aged 
men — many  of  them  were  absent  during  the  four  years 
of  the  war — you  left  these  colored  men  at  your  homes, 
where  they  stood  sentinels  at  the  doors,  and  your  wives 
and  your  children  were  safe  under  their  protection. 
They  labored  and  cultivated  your  lands,  and  raised  those 
products  which  supported  the  armies  in  the  fields.  And 
now  is  it  possible  that  the  foreigner — I  speak  not  of  the 
foreigner  as  a  man  of  another  country,  but  men  foreign 
to  your  interests,  men  of  other  sections  of  the  country — 
is  it  possible  that  they  shall  come  in  and  make  these 
colored  men  to  hate  you  and  destroy  you?  Your  inter- 
ests are  the  interests  of  the  colored  men. 

"A  few  colored  men  may  be  brought  around  the 
lobbies  of  the  Legislature  ;  they  may  be  temporarily  in- 
vested with  a  few  offices;  but  you  go  to  work  and  per- 
suade the  colored  men  that  their  interests  are  claimed  by 
just  laws  alone,  and  that  these  apparent  benefits  which 
are  conferred  on  a  few  of  their  number  do  not  go  to 
make  up  the  benefits  of  the  great  body  of  them.  Give 
'  them  to  understand  that  the  offices  which  are  conferred 
on  the  colored  men  here  and  the  colored  men  there  work 


ME.    HENDEICKS'S  VIEWS  ON   PUBLIC   MEASURES.    313 

a  positive  injustice  to  the  people  at  large.  Let  them 
understand  that,  with  regard  to  their  civil  rights,  yon  are 
willing  to  give  them  just  laws.  The  negro,  of  his  own 
motion,  is  not  going  to  ask  for  social  equality  or  social 
rights.  It  is  the  Northern  adventurer  only  who  is  try- 
ing to  agitate  that  question,  to  make  it  a  groundwork  of 
ill-feeling  between  you  and  the  colored  man.  In  1867, 
Senator  Wilson,  addressing  an  audience  in  this  square, 
declared  this  true  doctrine — that  no  law  in  any  land 
could  open  any  man's  parlor  to  him,  and  no  law  could 
open  his  parlor  to  any  other  man.  The  social  rights,  the 
social  position  of  a  man,  depend  upon  himself.  They 
are  not  regulated  by  law,  and  the  man  that  insists  that 
there  will  be  social  relations  between  the  whites  and  the 
blacks  inconsistent  with  the  proper  relations  of  those  two 
races  is  the  friend  of  neither.  He  is  the  enemy  of  both 
races.  In  my  judgment,  the  colored  people  will  be 
satisfied  if  you  assure  them  that  you  will  give  them  just 
laws,  fairly  administered.  Do  this,  and  then  the  outside 
adventurer  cannot  turn  their  votes  against  you.  Let  the 
colored  man  understand  that  the  legislation  of  your  State 
is  being  carried  on  to  make  a  few  men  rich  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  great  body  of  the  people. 

"  Appeal  to  the  colored  man  to  stand  by  you  in  your 
fight  for  honesty,  for  justice,  for  integrity,  and  for  equal 
laws ;  and  that  appeal  will  reach  his  heart  as  readily  as  it 
reaches  the  heart  of  the  great  body  of  the  white  people. 


314  MR.    HENDRICKS'S  VIEWS   ON   PUBLIC   MEASURES. 

I  don't  want  you  to  consider  what  I  have  said  as  the  ex- 
pression of  a  man  who  is  well  informed  on  the  sublet. 
I  have  never  been  brought  into  close  contact  with 
colored  men  to  any  considerable  extent.  I  don't  know 
much  of  their  habits;  I  don't  know  much  of  the  influ- 
ence brought  to  bear  upon  them ;  but  I  do  believe  that 
the  men  who  have  known  them  from  childhood  up — the 
men  who  have  been  their  friends  in  times  past — may,  by 
a  proper  course,  restore  that  influence  in  themselves 
which  will  enable  them  to  secure  the  colored  vote  for 
the  good  of  your  State  and  for  the  good  of  the  country. 
Let  the  consolidated  sentiment  of  the  men  of  Louisiana 
be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  Legislature  and  for  the 
right.  You  ask  nothing  that  is  wrong ;  you  ask  that  you 
may  be  taxed  only  for  the  public  good,  and  that  the  cor- 
rupt tide  of  special  legislation  shall  be  stopped.  We 
have  much  to  accomplish.  What  is  it  we  intend  ?  That 
this  Union  shall  be  perpetual ;  that  it  shall  rest  on  the 
Constitution ;  and  that  all  the  rights,  privileges,  and  pre- 
rogatives of  the  State  shall  be  maintained  forever  under 
that  Government;  and  that  the  national  Union,  thus  sup- 
ported by  States  clothed  with  all  their  rights,  will  be  the 
temple  in  which  freemen  shall  worship  forever  together. 
"  What  do  we  wish  to  accomplish  ?  Nothing  that  is 
wrong — everything  that  is  right.  We  wish  to  establish 
in  the  United  States  equal  laws  and  just  taxation. 
These  we  must  have.  This  plunder  of  the  State  and 


MR.    HENDRICKS'S  VIEWS   ON   PUBLIC   MEASURES.    315 

national  Treasury  is  becoming  universal.  There  must  be 
a  return  to  a  spirit  of  honesty  in  the  public  service,  both 
national  and  State.  There  is  a  power  greater  than  that 
of  law.  Daniel  Webster,  in  one  of  his  beautiful 
orations,  when  the  question  was  agitating  the  heart  of 
the  world  what  treatment  Russia  would  extend  to  Kos- 
suth,  and  whether  Russia  would  demand  the  return  of 
that  patriot  when  he  was  under  the  protection  of 
Turkey,  said  there  was  a  power  mightier  than  the 
earthquake,  more  terrible  than  the  rumbling  of  the 
storm — the  judgment  of  mankind. 

"  Let  us,  North  and  South,  unite  now  for  the  purpose 
of  maintaining  the  institutions  of  our  country  in  the 
spirit  in  which  they  were  established  by  the  great  men 
who  founded  this  government." 

HIS    SPEECH   AT   INDIANAPOLIS   IN   THE   CAMPAIGN    OF   1874:. 

During  the  campaign  of  1874  Mr.  Hendricks  made  a 
number  of  stirring  speeches.  The  one  delivered  in  In- 
dianapolis on  September  14  attracted  wide  attention  and 
was  generally  regarded  as  one  of  his  best  efforts.  The 
recent  adjournment  of  Congress  and  the  appeal  to  the 
people  in  an. address  signed  by  thirty-nine  members  of 
the  Congressional  Committee,  in  which  they  asked  that 
officeholders  be  continued  in  power  on  the  ground  that 
the  Republicans  are  better  than  the  Democrats,  afforded 


316  MR.    HENDRICKS'S  VIEWS   ON   PUBLIC   MEASURES. 

Mr.  Hendricks  an  opportunity.  In  the  course  of  his 
address  he  said : 

"Let  us  look  at  some  of  the  specific  charges  in  the  ad- 
dress asrainst  Democratic  rule.  '  "We  bullied  Austria  out 

o 

of  an  Hungarian  refugee.'  That  was  the  case  of  Martin 
Koszta,  an  Hungarian  by  birth,  who  had  emigrated  to  this 
country,  had  lived  in  New  York  one  year  and  eleven 
months,  and  in  proper  form,  according  to  our  laws,  had 
declared  his  intention  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States.  In  1853  he  went  to  Europe  on  business,  carrying 
an  authenticated  copy  of  his  declaration,  and  intending 
Boon  to  return.  While  at  Smyrna  he  was  seized  by  the 
emissaries  of  Austria  and  forcibly  taken  on  board  the 
Hussar,  an  Austrian  brig-of-war,  and  held  in  close  con- 
finement, to  be  carried  back  for  punishment  by  that  cruel 
government  because  of  his  aspirations  for  liberty. 

"  Captain  Ingraham,  of  our  navy,  was  then  in  com- 
mand of  the  sloop-of-war  St.  Louis,  in  the  Mediterranean, 
and,  coming  to  anchor  at  Smyrna,  was  told  by  our  consul 
what  had  taken  place.  After  consulting  our  representa- 
tive at  Constantinople,  he  demanded  of  the  Austrian 
commander  the  surrender  of  Koszta,  with  the  assurance 
that  he  would  be  taken  if  not  surrendered.  He  was  sur- 
rendered, and  placed  under  the  protection  of  the  French 
consul,  and  returned  to  the  United  States,  and  Austria 
never  laid  her  iron  hand  upon  him  again.  For  his  gal- 
lant and  noble  conduct,  Congress  voted  Captain  Ingraham 


ME.    HENDRICKS'S  VIEWS  ON"  PUBLIC  MEASURES.    317 

a  medal.  Mr.  Marcy,  as  Secretary  of  State,  in  a  corre- 
spondence of  extraordinary  ability,  maintained  and  vindi- 
cated our  country's  position  and  conduct,  and  established 
public  judgment  in  our  favor.  Do  you  regret  that 
Koszta  was  not  left  an  Austrian  prisoner  ?  If  not,  what 
think  you  of  this  charge  against  the  Democracy  by  the 
Republican  Congressmen  ? 

"  The  next  charge  is  in  these  words :  '  We  despoiled 
Mexico  of  a  portion  of  her  territory.'  By  treaty,  at  the 
close  of  the  Mexican  War,  we  acquired  New  Mexico  and 
California ;  we  hold  them  still.  From  the  latter  we  have 
realized  untold  wealth.  But  is  it  true  that  the  acquisi- 
tion was  not  the  result  of  legitimate  war  and  fair  treaty? 
that  it  was  the  act  of  force  by  the  strong  over  the  weak  ? 
that  it  was  robbery  ?  and  that  the  officers  and  soldiers  in 
that  war  were  despoilers  ?  If  that  be  so,  then,  however 
proud  the  people  have  been  of  the  achievements  of  the 
soldiers,  and  of  the  magnificence  of  the  acquisition, 
ought  not  the  country  to  be  restored  ?  No ;  the  question 
was  long  since  settled.  It  is  ours  by  legitimate  and 
proper  war  and  fair  treaty,  and  the  demand  made  that 
we  should  blush  because  of  that  war  and  its  results  only 
shows  their  inability  to  find  real  fault  in  Democratic 
Administrations. 

"  They  also  charge,  '  We  demolished  Greytown.'  That 
is  true.  It  was  in  1854.  It  was  on  the  line  of  travel  and 
commerce  between  the  Atlantic  States  and  California ; 


318    ME.    HENDRICKS'S  YIEWS   ON   PUBLIC   MEASURES. 

and  after  that  the  semi-barbarians  and  half-clothed  sava- 
ges of  that  locality  no  more  interrupted  our  commerce 
or  murdered  our  people. 

"  By  what  authority  and  in  what  manner  our  internal 
commerce  shall  be  regulated  is  a  question  of  present  and 
deep  interest,  and  party  managers  who  ask  an  indefinite 
extension  of  power  should  declare  their  policy  in  unmis- 
takable terms.  In  their  addresses  the  members  of  Con- 
gress evade  it,  except  to  say  that,  whatever  may  or  may 
not  be  expedient  to  be  done,  'only  the  Republican  Party 
can  be  relied  upon  to  do  it.'  Why  so?  Has  that  party 
not  been  in  power,  both  State  and  national,  long  enough 
to  have  done  something,  if  its  leaders  were  really  in 
favor  of  anything? 

"  In  respect  to  the  proposition  that  Congress  shall 
build  a  double-track  railway  from  the  Mississippi  to  the 
Atlantic,  the  Congressional  address  says,  '  This  is 
worthy  of  careful  consideration ; '  and  in  respect  to  the 
proposed  expenditure  of  $2,000,000  per  year  by  Con- 
gress to  open  or  enlarge  several  water-channels  over  the 
country,  they  say,  'We  invite  your  earnest  and  careful 
consideration  of  that  proposal.'  Can  you  tell  what  they 
are  in  favor  of? 

"  But  their  utterances  are  yet  more  confused  in  respect 
to  the  regulation  of  fares  and  freights.  Shall  it  be  under 
the  control  of  the  States  or  of  the  companies?  They 
say  that  the  objections  to  State  control  '  are  so  serious 


MR.   HENDRICKS'S  VIEWS  ON   PUBLIC   MEASURES.    319 

that  it  should  not  be  embraced  if  a  better  one  can  be 
found ; '  that  it  would  drive  capital  from  us.  They 
add,  '  It  is  now  a  mooted  question  whether  that  price 
(fare  and  freight)  shall  be  named  by  the  company  or  by 
the  people.'.  .  .  '  It  is  manifest  that  if  the  company  be 
allowed  to  fix  the  price,  they  may  demand  too  much. 
Tenders  of  all  commodities  are  very  apt  to  want  all  they 
can  get.  On  the  contrary,  if  the  people  or  their  agents 
fix  the  price,  they  may  set  it  too  low.  Purchasers  are 
very  apt  to  want  commodities  as  cheap  as  they  can  be 
had.  It  is  not  probable  that  either  party  to  the  trans- 
action would  always  hit  upon  the  exact  equivalent.  The 
consequences  of  a  mistake  would  probably  be  found 
most  injurious  if  made  by  the  people.  If  the  company 
makes  the  mistake  and  charges  too  much,  no  one  is 
obliged  to  employ  it.  The  producer  does  his  own  carry- 
ing before  the  railway  is  built.  He  has  the  perfect  right 
to  do  so  after  it  is  built.'  .  .  .  'Under  favorable  con- 
ditions, indeed,  the  carrier  may  demand  and  receive 
more  than  a  fair  share  of  the  profits  of  production. 
"Where  such  is  the  case,  when  the  State  finds  the 
producer  makes  but  ten  per  cent  while  the  carrier  makes 
fifteen  or  twenty  per  cent,  it  is  very  easy  and  perfectly 
legitimate  for  it  to  say  to  the  company :  "  The  work  you 
do  can  be  done  for  less  money ;  we  will  pay  you  for 
your  road  what  it  will  cost  to  build  such  another,  or  you 
may  keep  your  road  and  we  will  build  another."  So  the 


320    MR.   HEXDRICKS'S   VIEWS   ON   PUBLIC   MEASURES. 

people  are  not  helpless  against  exorbitant  charges.  On 
the  contrary,  if  the  people  set  the  price,  and  set  it  too 
low,  the  consequence  may  be  graver.' 

"  From  the  address  I  have  read  thus  fully  because  it 
is  a  carefully-prepared  appeal  to  the  people,  and  speaks 
with  authority  for  the  party.  And  now  I  ask,  "What  are 
they  for?  What  are  they  against?  Is  it  a  grand  gov- 
ernment railroad,  or  water-lines  of  communication  ? 
*  "Worthy  your  careful  consideration,'  is  the  answer. 
This  alone  appears  clear,  that  they  oppose  the  regula- 
tion of  fares  and  freights  by  public  authority,  and  favor 
leaving  their  regulation  to  the  companies.  "Whatever 
you  think  of  the  position,  the  reasons  given  are  vicious. 
'If  the  people  fix  the  rates,  they  are  likely  to  be  too  low, 
and  capital  will  be  driven  off.'  "Why  so?  Intelligent 
legislation  would  regard  railroads  as  important  public 
agencies  to  be  protected,  if  not  encouraged.  But  they 
add:  'If  the  company  makes  the  mistake  and  charges 
too  much,  no  one  is  obliged  to  employ  it.  The  producer 
does  his  own  carrying  before  the  railway  is  built.  He 
has  the  perfect  right  to  do  so  after  it  is  built.'  That 
language  in  the  mouth  of  the  company  itself  would  be 
justly  offensive.  It  does  not  correctly  state  the  relations 
between  the  companies  and  society.  The  companies 
are  created  by  law,  as  artificial  persons,  and  clothed  with 
important  privileges,  because  of  the  bench' ts  the  con- 
struction and  maintenance  of  their  roads  will  be  to  the 


MR.    HEXDRICKS'S   VIEWS   ON    PUBLIC    MEASURES.     321 

community.  Except  for  that,  they  would  not  exist. 
Except  for  that,  they  would  not  be  clothed  by  law  with 
that  quality  of  sovereignty  which  enables  them,  like  the 
State,  to  appropriate  private  property.  But  for  the  fact 
that  they  are  public,  and  for  the  public,  and  not  private, 
they  could  not  enter  upon,  condemn,  and  appropriate  the 
lands  and  timber  of  the  citizen. 

"  This  view  is  in  accordance  with  legislation,  judicial 
decisions,  and  public  policy.  And  the  companies  cannot 
say  to  the  producers,  nor  can  these  members  of  Congress 
say  for  them,  '  If  the  fares  and  freights  are  too  high, 
you  can  carry  your  own  produce  to  market  as  you  used 
to  do.'  The  public  corporation  must  serve  the  public  at 
reasonable  charges.  That  is  the  purpose  of  its  existence, 
and  the  advantage  of  the  members  is  but  an  incident. 
Highways,  whether  rail  or  gravel,  might  be  made  by  the 
State  directly,  and  in  every  respect  would  be  under  State 
control.  The  public  corporation,  created  to  build  and 
maintain  such  highway,  stands,  in  respect  to  its  powers 
and  its  duties,  in  the  place  of  the  State.  It  is  a  creature 
of  the  State,  endowed  with  a  part  of  its  powers,  to  serve 
the  public.  And  if  such  a  corporation  refuses  to  serve 
the  public  at  reasonable  rates,  the  State  may  compel  such 
service.  I  suppose  the  rule  in  respect  to  a  private  cor- 
poration would  be  different.  In  this  I  do  not  refer  to 
the  case  in  which  the  State  may  have  expressly  relin- 
quished the  control  to  the  corporation  itself.  In  this 


322    MR.    HEXDRICKS'S   VIEWS   ONT   PUBLIC   MEASURES. 

State  the  power  is  expressly  reserved  to  amend  the 
general  laws  under  which  railroad  companies  have  been 
organized  since  1853. 

'"  If  possible,  the  other  remedy  against  exorbitant 
charges,  suggested  by  the  Congressional  address,  is  more 
objectionable.  It  is,  that  the  State  shall  buy  the  road 
from  the  compam',  or  build  another  road  by  its  side.  It 
is  not  probable  that  the  people  of  Indiana  will  ever 
again  permit  the  State  to  enter  upon  the  hazardous 
work  of  constructing  or  managing  works  of  internal 
improvements.  The  reliable  remedy  is  to  be  found  in 
the  wise  and  prudent  exercise  of  the  powers  which  the 
State  has  over  her  own  institutions. 

"Under  the  pretext  of  regulating  commerce  among 
the  States,  the  dangerous  scheme  has  been  devised  of 
Congressional  intervention  and  control  over  State  cor- 
porations. The  real  purpose  is  to  strengthen  Federal  au- 
thority and  promote  the  concentration  of  power.  Can 
you  conceive  a  scheme  of  greater  danger  to  the  reserved 
rights  of  the  States  and  of  the  people? 

"  To  secure  a  fair  management  of  railroads  and  a  just 
rate  of  transportation,  are  the  farmers  and  mechanics  not 
safer  in  the  hands  of  their  immediate  representatives  in 
the  State  Legislature  than  in  the  hands  of  Congress  or 
of  such  commissioners?  The  responsibility  of  the  people 
is  more  direct,  and  the  representatives  are  more  in  your 
sympathy,  and  corrupting  influences  are  less  powerful. 


MR.    HENDRICKS'S  VIEWS   ON"   PUBLIC   MEASURES.    323 

"  Tlicre  is  pending  in  the  House  a  Senate  bill,  which, 
assumes  the  right  to  regulate  the  schools,  public  con- 
veyances, etc.,  in  the  States,  and  to  declare  by  whom  and 
up.on  what  terms  they  shall  be  enjoyed.  These  have  al- 
ways been  held  to  be  domestic  institutions,  and  subject 
only  to  State  control.  This  is  another  effort  to  concen- 
trate power. 

"  If  Congress,  upon  any  pretence,  may  prescribe  who 
shall  be  admitted  to  the  schools,  may  it  not,  on  the  same 
pretence,  go  further  and  prescribe  the  terms  and  regulate 
the  treatment  of  the  scholars  in  the  schools,  and  do  what- 
ever may  be  desired  to  preserve  a  supposed  equality? 

"  We  hear  no  more  of  the  foolish  cry  that  the  Demo- 
cratic Party  is  dead.  Stanch,  strong,  and  earnest,  it  has 
its  work  to  do,  the  pleasing  work  of  restoring  good  gov- 
ernment, wholesome  and  equal  laws,  and  universal  har- 
mony to  a  great  people.  It  is  cheered  forward  by  the 
increasing  respect  and  confidence  of  the  people,  as  shown 
in  the  elections  as  they  come  on.  When  the  day  of  com- 
plete triumph  shall  come,  and  the  burdens  and  responsi- 
bilities of  government  shall  rest  upon  its  broad  shoul- 
ders, Heaven  forbid  that  the  people  shall  be  disappointed 
in  their  just  expectations  !" 


HENDRICKS  ON  REVENUE  REFORM. 

On  his  return  from  Europe  in  April,  1884,  Mr.  Henr 


324   MR.    HENDRICKS'S  VIEWS   OX   PUBLIC   MEASURES. 

dricks  was  interviewed  for  a  New  York  newspaper,  and 
said : 

"  I  think  almost  every  reflecting  person  has  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  there  ought  to  be  a  reform  in  our 
revenue  system,  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  exist- 
ing laws  bring  into  the  Treasury  annually  many  millions 
of  dollars  more  than  an  economical  administration  of 
public  affairs  can  require.  The  people  will  consider  the 
obligation  of  the  Democratic  Party  as  discharged  if, 
when  clothed  with  sufficient  power,  it  shall  introduce  and 
consummate  all  needed  reforms.  But  the  public  will 
hardly  hold  the  party  responsible  merely  because  it  con- 
trols one  branch  of  Congress.  Revenue  and  adminis- 
trative reform  that  are  impossible — I  mean  that  may  be 
impossible  in  a  House  of  Representatives  as  a  partisan 
body  with  a  powerful  minority  adverse,  and  with  a  Sen- 
ate and  Executive  in  opposition,  may  become  easy  and 
certain  after  the  discussions  brought  out  by  the  general 
election,  and  after  the  election  of  a  President  in  harmony 
•with  the  sentiments  of  the  people  as  established  in  such 
discussions. 

"  Revenue  reform  is  a  work  of  great  difficulty  and 
delicacy,  but  surely  it  will  be  possible  and  practicable 
when  undertaken  by  all  the  responsible  departments  of 
the  government,  acting  in  harmony.  The  President's 
recommendation,  alone,  should  have  great  weight  and 
influence.  He  will  directly  represent  ull  the  interests 


MR.   HENDRICKS'S  VIEWS  ON   PUBLIC  MEASURES.    325 

aftd  sections  of  the  country,  and  his  possible  relations  to 
the  subject  will  be  considered  by  the  people  when  they 
make  their  selection.  The  present  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, although  Democratic  by  a  large  majority, 
may  not  be  able  to  harmonize  and  agree  upon  a  measure 
of  revenue  reform  that  can  pass  the  whole  ordeal  of  legis- 
lation; yet  I  have  entire  confidence  that  Democratic 
success  this  year  will  result  in  legislation  just  to  the  great 
interests  of  the  country,  affording  relief  to  the  Treasury 
from  the  present  plethora,  and  greatly  reducing  the  bur- 
den of  the  tax-payers.  Of  course  it  is  a  prime  idea,  as 
respects  revenue  reform,  that  the  revenue  shall  be  re- 
duced, and  that  in  the  reduction  the  greatest  care  shall 
be  taken  that  unequal  burdens  shall  not  be  imposed  on 
some  and  special  advantages  given  to  others.  Of  course 
the  carrying  out  of  this  idea  requires  the  exercise  of  the 
highest  judgment.  It  is  unfortunate  that  the  House  of 
Representatives  has  not  agreed  on  the  subject.  I  regret 
it,  and  I  hope  some  fair  and  proper  adjustment  may  be 
made.  But,  however  that  may  be,  I  have  no  doubt  but 
that  harmony  will  characterize  the  proceedings  of  the 
National  Convention,  because  it  will  be  the  duty  of  that 
Convention  to  harmonize  in  order  that  success  may  fol- 
low, not  for  the  promotion  of  any  particular  individual, 
but  in  order  that  needed  conservative  reforms  may  not 
only  be  possible  but  sure." 


326   ME.    HENDRICKS'S    VIEWS   ON    PUBLIC    MEASURES. 
HENDRICK8   ON   CIVIL-SERVICE   REFORM. 

Hendricks  said  as  long  ago  as  1872,  at  the  meeting  in 
Indianapolis  in  July  of  that  year  to  ratii'y  the  nomina- 
tion of  Mr.  Greeley:  "Governor  Morton  thinks  we  do 
not  know  what  civil-service  reform  means.  lie  will 
find  that  we  understand  it,  and  that  the  people,  with- 
out respect  to  party  differences,  understand  it,  and  that 
they  will  have  the  reform.  The  plainest  mind,  if  honest, 
easily  comprehends  it.  It  means  that  honesty,  capacity, 
and  fidelity  constitute  the  only  valid  claim  to  public  em- 
ployment it  means  that  men  are  not  to  be  appointed  to 
office  merely  because  they  are  relatives  or  subservient 
tools  of  party  leaders  ;  it  means  that  men  are  not  to  be 
appointed  whose  only  claim  is  that  they  have  been  the 
corrupt  agents  of  a  party,  and  with  foul  hands  have 
defiled  the  people's  ballot-box ;  it  means  that  the  public 
offices  belong  to  the  people,  and  that  their  duties  are  to 
be  discharged  by  faithful  men  and  only  for  the  public 
good.  I  believe  it  means  all  that,  and  this,  too :  that  men 
who  hold  appointments  to  discharge  administrative 
duties,  who  are  faithful  and  efficient,  and  do  not  prosti- 
tute their  positions  to  the  service  of  party,  ought  not  to 
be  removed  because  of  their  political  opinions.  If  men 
of  that  character  are  retained  they  become  a  check  upon 
the  supporters  of  the  party  in  power  who  may  attempt 
fraudulent  practices  upon  the  Treasury.  Touchers 


ME.    HENDRICKS'S   VIEWS   ON"   PUBLIC    MEASURES.     327 

•could  not  then  be  withdrawn  and  raised,  and  additional 
thousands  drawn  upon  them.  The  sum  of  the  whole 
matter  is  that  the  public  offices  ought  to  be  filled  and 
their  duties  discharged  for  the  benefit  of  the  country, 
and  not  for  a  party." 


CHAPTER  XX. 


MR.   HENDRICKS  AT   HOME. 

Pen-Portrait  of  Mr.  Hendricks. — Description  of  his  Residence  at 
Indianapolis. — His  Social  Relations. — Mrs.  Hendricks. — A  Woman 
of  Rare  Talent  and  a  Brilliant  Conversationalist. — Her  Husband's 
Confidential  Adviser  and  Constant  Companion. — "Thomas  will  bo 
Too  Old  to  be  placed  at  the  Head  of  the  Ticket  iu  1888."— Mr. 
Hendricks's  Law-Practice. — Important  Suits  in  which  he  has  been 
Engaged.— Mr.  Hendricks's  Speech  at  Indianapolis  after  his  Nomina- 
tion.— "  There  ought  to  be  a  Change." — His  Confidence  in  the  Suc- 
cess of  the  Ticket. — "  Dave"  Gooding's  Little  Joke. 

MR  HENDRICKS  is  a  man  of  medium  height  and 
symmetrical  form.  He  is  erect,  active,  and  vigorous. 
His  figure  is  manly  and  his  face  is  handsome.  The  fea- 
tures are  large  and  expressive,  and  while  there  is  a  soft, 
good-humored  expression  in  the  large  blue  eyes  and  in 
the  mouth  and  dimpled  chin,  the  brow,  forehead,  and 
full,  heavy  jaw  indicate  wisdom  and  resolution.  His 
complexion  is  florid,  and  he  looks  like  one  who  has  lived 
a  happy  life,  encountered  no  great  sorrows,  and  yielded 
to  no  great  vices.  His  disposition  is  as  sunny  as  his  com- 
plexion, and  in  social  life  he  is  a  great  favorite.  To 


MB.    HENDRICKS  AT  HOME.  329 

acquaintances  he  is  affable  and  pleasant,  to  close  friends 
warm  and  lovable,  and  to  political  associates  courteous 
but  cautious.  He  would  rather  conciliate  an  enemy  than 
oblige  an  ally.  His  voice  is  rather  a  thin  tenor  and  has 
nothing  imposing  in  its  tones,  but  is  audible  to  a  great 
distance  when  he  speaks  with  earnestness.  He  appears 
to  the  best  advantage  before  a  crowd,  for  then  he  kindles 
with  the  excitement  of  the  occasion,  and  an  interruption 
or  a  jest  from  some  dissenting  auditor  is  all  that  is  neces- 
sary to  make  him  forget  his  habitual  deliberative  cast  of 
thought  and  fling  himself  into  dashing  and  aggressive 
argument. 

His  private  and  public  life  is  above  reproach.  "  He 
is  addicted  to  none  of  the  vices,  great  or  small,"  says  one 
biographer,  "  and  his  walk  through  life  has  been  un- 
usually circumspect."  The  best  likeness  of  Mr.  Hen- 
dricks  is  one  which  was  photographed  by  Van  Loo.  The 
portrait  of  the  ex-Senator  in  the  Indiana  State  Library, 
painted  by  Freeman,  conve}Ts  the  idea  of  a  high  liver, 
which  is  not  just,  Mr.  Hendricks  being  rather  abste- 
mious than  otherwise  in  his  habits.  The  Van  Loo  does 
justice  to  the  pose  of  the  finely-formed  head,  the  brow  is 
clear,  the  eyes  are  penetrating,  and  the  expression  is 
pleasing  and  intellectual.  The  picture  even  conveys  an 
idea  of  the  delicacy  of  complexion  and  soft,  brown  tint 
of  hair  which  mark  his  Scotch  descent. 

He  has  never  belonged  to  more  than  one  secret  society, 


330  MB.    HENDRICKS   AT   HOME. 

the  Odd  Fellows.  lie  is  a  charter-member  of  the  "Wells- 
ville  Lodge,  but  a  long  time  ago  ceased  to  actively  par- 
ticipate in  its  work.  lie  was  nurtured  in  the  Presby- 
terian faith,  and  was  a  member  of  that  communion  until 
the  organization  of  St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church  in 
Indianapolis  in  the  year  1862,  when  he  became  a  mem- 
ber of  that  parish  and  was  elected  senior  warden. 

Mr.  Ilendricks  has  seldom  left  his  own  State  in  recent 
years,  but  with  his  wife  he  made  a  trip  to  Europe  in  the 
spring  of  1884.  He  visited  Rome,  Naples,  Genoa, 
Florence,  and  Venice,  and  stayed  some  time  in  Paris  and 
also  in  London. 

MR.    HENDRICKS'S   RESIDENCE   AT   INDIANAPOLIS. 

Mr.  Ilendricks  has  been  a  resident  of  Indianapolis  for 
many  years,  and  among  the  many  pleasant  homes  of  that 
city  none  is  more  comfortable  or  less  ostentatious  than 
his.  It  is  a  two-story  brick  dwelling,  standing  in  a  spa- 
cious, grassy,  and  well-shaded  lawn  not  closely  trimmed, 
decorated  with  old-fashioned  country  garden-flowers. 
Across  the  avenue  the  splendid  State  Capitol,  the  cor- 
ner-stone of  which  was  laid  under  Governor  "VVilliams's 
administration,  when  Mr.  Hendricks  delivered  the  ora- 
tion, is  being  erected.  All  around  the  home  appearances 
speak  of  simple  comfort  and  quiet  hospitality.  It  is  not 
a  house  of  many  rooms,  but  they  are  large  and  handsome 
and  have  an  air  of  comfort  foreign  to  most  more  preten- 


ME.    HENDRICKS  AT  HOME.  331 

tions  dwellings.  The  hall  is  especially  spacious,  and 
with  the  open  door  and  inviting  chairs  and  sofa  makes 
a  pleasant  reception-room  in  summer.  Mr.  Hendricks's 
private  and  political  library  is  upstairs,  and  there  he  has 
a  table  and  telephone,  and  receives  the  politicians  who 
crave  a  special  hearing. 

Mr.  Hendricks  is,  without  doubt,  the  most  popular 
man  in  his  party  in  Indiana,  and  this  position  he  has 
attained  by  uniform  urbanity,  courtesy,  and  considera- 
tion for  the  feelings  of  others.  In  his  social  relations 
he  is  not  at  all  hypocritical  or  pretentious,  but  he  is  a 
cultured  and  refined  gentleman — a  fact  that  even  his 
bitterest  political  enemies  will  readily  acknowledge. 

MR.    HENDRICKS'S   MARRIED   LIFE. 

Mr.  Hendricks  was  married  near  Cincinnati,  on  the 
25th  of  September,  1845,  to  Miss  Eliza  C.  Morgan. 
Mrs.  Hendricks  is  a  fine-looking  lady,  about  fifty  years 
old,  rather  small  of  stature,  with  dark  hair  and  eyes. 
She  wears  an  eye-glass,  which  gives  her  something  of 
a  distinguee  appearance,  and  she  dresses  richly  but 
plainly.  She  is  a  brilliant  conversationalist  and  a  lady 
of  rare  tact.  For  many  years  she  has  devoted  much 
attention  to  charitable  matters,  and  for  four  years  was 
one  of  the  board  of  trustees,  appointed  by  the  Repub- 
lican Governor,  of  the  State  institution  for  the  reforma- 
tion of  girls.  While  president  of  the  board  a  legislative 


332  MR.    HENDRICKS   AT  HOME. 

investigation  of  the  institution  was  held,  and  developed 
the  fact  that  its  affairs  had  been  managed  ranch  more 
economically  and  effectively  than  when  under  control  of 
men. 

When  Mr.  Hendricks  was  Governor  of  the  State  she 
visited  with  him  the  various  penal  and  reformatory  in- 
stitutions, and  was  not  satisfied  with  a  casual  inspection 
of  them',  but  inquired  into  their  affairs  closely.  She  is 
•valuable  to  him  in  many  ways,  for  she  has  an  extended 
knowledge  of  political  affairs  and  excellent  judgment 
regarding  them.  All  of  his  carefully  prepared  speeches 
bear  the  impression  of  her  work.  They  are  a  charm- 
ing couple,  thoroughly  congenial  and  almost  equally 
talented. 

Mi's.  Hendricks  is  his  confidential  adviser,  and  is  al- 
ways consulted  before  he  takes  any  important  step.  She 
is,  if  anything,  more  ambitious  than  her  husband,  and 
has  done  much  to  increase  his  popularity  by  her  grace- 
ful ways  and  feminine  shrewdness.  Although  they  are 
people  of  aristocratic  breeding  and  tendencies,  they  by 
no  means  hold  themselves  aloof  from  others,  but  all  who 
come  to  see  them  are  made  welcome  and  entertained  so 
cleverly  that  all  existing  differences  of  rank  or  social 

*/ 

position  are  forgotten. 

"THOMAS  WILL  THEN  BE  TOO  OLD." 
One  who  knows  the  family  intimately  says:  "She  is 


MR.    HEtfDRICKS   AT  HOME.  333 

generally  present  at  his  conferences  with  his  political 
friends,  and  often  participates  in  them.  She  accompanies 
him  in  his  travels,  being  his  companion  abroad  as  well 
a,s  at  home,  and  she  is  to  him  what  God  designed  the 
wife  should  be  to  the  husband — his  constant  companion 
and  friend.  They  have  no  children  living,  the  only  one 
born  to  them — a  boy — having  died  many  years  ago ;  and 
as  they  go  through  life  together,  hand  in  hand,  they  pre- 
sent one  of  the  most  beautiful  examples  of  confidence 
and  domestic  felicity  anywhere  to  be  seen." 

A  New  York  correspondent  who  visited  Mr.  Hen- 
dricks  to  obtain  his  views  on  the  Chicago  platform 
wrote :  "  Mrs.  Hendricks  was  present  during  the  inter- 
view, and  was  evidently  well  pleased  with  the  honor  con- 
ferred upon  her  husband.  '  This  will  tend  to  make  Mr. 
Hendricks  more  prominent  than  ever  for  years  hence,' 
suggested  the  correspondent,  •  and  may  result  in  his 
being  placed  at  the  head  of  the  ticket  in  1888.'  '  Oh, 
no,'  replied  Mrs.  Hendricks,  with  a  smile,  '  Thomas  will 
then  be  too  old.' " 


MR.    HENDRICKS  6    LAW-PRACTICE. 

Mr.  Hendricks  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  is  as- 
sociated with  Messrs.  O.  B.  Hood,  A.  "W.  Hendricks,  and 
Conrad  Baker,  who  had  preceded  him  in  the  guberna- 
torial office.  The  four  years  of  his  executive  term  was 


334  ME.    HENDRICKS  AT   HOME. 

the  only  period  when  Mr.  TTend  ricks  did  not  practice 
law,  and  yet  he  resumed  professional  work  with  such 
diffidence,  lest  he  had  lost  ground  therein,  that  the  gain- 
ing of  his  first  case  was  very  much  of  a  surprise  to  him. 
It  was  a  famous  canal  case,  which  had  run  the  gauntlet 
of  the  courts  for  a  dozen  years  and  had  its  root  in  'mat- 
ters dating  back  twenty-seven  years.  Perhaps  the  most 
important  case  which  has  engaged  his  attention  was  that 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Railway,  in  which  he  held  his  own 
with  such  distinguished  talent  as  that  of  Judge  Hoadly, 
Stanley  Matthews,  and  Mr.  McDonald.  His  argument 
at  Newport  covered  one  hundred  pages  of  printed  matter 
and  is  a  marvel  of  legal  acumen.  Another  great  case 
was  that  of  the  Toledo  and  Western. 

To  a  degree  in  which  hardly  any  other  American  pub- 
licist has  succeeded,  Mr.  Hendricks  has  retained  his  hold 
upon  his  immediate  constituency,  and  kept  the  party 
organization  of  his  State  free  from  factional  discord. 
He  and  his  friends  were  alike  surprised  at  the  demon- 
stration over  his  name  and  presence  in  the  Chicago  Con- 
vention, and  nothing  short  of  it  could  have  reconciled 
him  to  the  entrance  upon  a  political  struggle  involving 
his  own .  election  to  office,  all  thought  of  which  he  had 
surrendered  with  the  retirement  of  his  illustrious  col- 
league of  the  "  old  ticket." 

Mr.  Hendricks  never  sat  in  a  National  Convention  he- 
fore  that  of  this  year,  and  never  saw  one  save  as  a  spec- 


ITR.    HENDRICKS   AT  HOME.  335 

tator  for   a   few  liours  of  the   Chicago  Convention  of 
1864,  which  named  McClellan  and  Pendleton. 


MR.  HENDKICKS'S  SPEECH  AFTEK  HIS  NOMINATION. 

On  his  return  from  the  Chicago  Convention  to  Indi- 
anapolis, Mr.  Hendricks  was  invited  to  be  present  at  a 
grand  ratification  meeting,  which  was  attended  by  eight 
thousand  people.  The  meeting  was  held  under  the  au- 
spices of  a  new  political  labor  organization  known  as  the 
"  Autocrats."  The  correspondent  of  a  Cincinnati  news- 
paper thus  describes  Mr.  Hendricks's  appearance : 

"  The  coming  of  the  distinguished  gentleman  was  the 
signal  for  long-continued  and  enthusiastic  cheering,  the 
vast  crowd  waving  hats  and  handkerchiefs,  and  filling 
the  air  with  huzzahs.  Mr.  English  presided,  and  in  his 
acceptance  he  recounted  the  causes,  dating  back  to  1876, 
which  had  led  to  this  remarkable  gathering.  He  was 
very  happy  in  his  allusions  to  the  ticket  nominated  at 
Chicago,  and  in  his  more  direct  personal  reference  to 
Mr.  Hendricks. 

"  Following  him  Mr.  Hendricks  was  introduced,  and 
as  he  came  forward  the  cheering  broke  out  afresh,  and 
continued  unabated  for  several  minutes,  Mr.  McDonald 
being  conspicuous  with  hat  and  cane  in  giving  it  empha- 
sis. It  was  this  tumultuous  greeting  which  led  Mr. 
Hendricks  to  remark :  '  You  are  almost  as  bad  as  they 


336  MR.    HENDRICKS   AT   HOME. 

were  in  the  Convention  at  Chicago,'  and  this  started  the 
hnzzahs  anew  and  with  freshened  vigor. 

"Mr.  Hcndricks  talked  for  sometime  in  his  pleasant 
conversational  way,  but  not  attempting  to  conceal  his 
personal  gratification  over  the  tremendous  welcome  which 
had  been  extended  to  him.  In  all  that  he  said  he  was 
cautious  not  to  offend,  and  his  manner  was  chivalric  and 
sympathetic  as  he  touched  lightly  upon  his  own  nomina- 
tion, and  the  disappointment  which  came  to  others  seek- 
ing higher  preferment." 

The  following  is  his  speech  on  this  occasion  : 

"  MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS  :  You  are  almost  as  bad  as 
they  were  in  the  Convention  at  Chicago.  I  thought 
they  would  not  stop  up  there  at  all,  and  I  thought  there 
was  no  limit  to  the  crowd  of  people  there;  but  I  find 
there  is  a  larger,  almost,  here.  I  am  very  much  encour- 
aged and  delighted  to  meet  you  on  this  occasion.  You 
come  to  celebrate  and  to  express  your  approval  of  the 
nominations  that  were  made  at  Chicago.  I  am  glad  that 
you  are  so  cordial  in  this  expression. 

"  This  is  a  great  year  with  us.  Every  fourth  year  we 
elect  two  great  officers  of  the  Government.  This  year 
is  our  great- year;  and  every  man,  whatever  his  party 
associations  may  be,  is  called  upon  to  reconsider  all  ques- 
tions upon  which  he  is  disposed  to  act ;  and  having  re- 
considered, to  cast  his  vote  in  favor  of  what  he  believes 
to  be  right.  The  Democrats  of  Indiana  appointed  me 


MR.    HENDRICKS   AT   HOME.  337 

.one  of  the  delegates  to  the  Convention  at  Chicago.  I 
spent  nearly  a  week  in  attendance  in  that  city,  and  now  I 
return  to  say  a  few  things  to  you,  and  only  a  few  things, 
in  regard  to  that  Convention. 

"It  was  the  largest  convention  ever  held  in  America. 
Never  has  such  an  assemblage  of  people  been  seen  before. 
It  was  a  convention  marked  in  its  character  for  sobriety, 
deliberation,  and  purposes.  It  selected  two  men  to  carry 
the  banner ;  and  leaving  that  Convention  and  going  out 
before  the  people,  the  question  is,  Will  you  help  carry 
the  banner?  I  do  not  expect — I  have  no  right  to  ex- 
pect— that  I  will  escape  criticism,  and  it  may  be  slander, 
of  the  opposite  party.  I  have  not  in  my  life  suffered 
very  much  from  that.  But  I  come  before  you,  Demo- 
crats, conservatives,  independents,  all  men  who  wish  to 
restore  the  Government  to  the  position  it  occupied  be- 
fore these  corrupt  times,  and  to  all  such  men  I  make  my 
appeal  for  your  support  for  the  high  office  for  which  I 
have  .been  nominated  by  the  Democracy  at  Chicago. 

"  Governor  Cleveland  is  the  nominee  for  President,  a 
man  promoted  to  his  high  office  by  the  largest  majority 
ever  deciding  an  election  in  New  York.  He  is  a  man  of 
established  honesty  of  character,  and  if  yo.u  will  elect 
him  to  the  Presidency  of  the"  United  States  you  will  not 
hear  of  star  routes  in  the  postal  service  of  the  country 
under  his  administration. 

"  My  fellow-citizens,  I  believe  that  for  such  a  duty  as 


338  MR-    HENDRICKS    AT   HOME. 

this,  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  »the  United  States 
Government  for  the  people  of  this  country,  I  can  com- 
mend to  your  confidence  Governor  Cleveland,  of  New 
York.  Not  long  since  there  were  troubles  in  the  local 
government  of  the  city  of  Buffalo,  and  the  conservative 
people  of  that  city  nominated  Grover  Cleveland  as 
candidate  for  Mayor,  not  upon  a  party  ticket,  but  npon  a 
citizens'  ticket,  with  the  dutv  assigned  to  him  of  cor- 

•s  O 

recting  the  evils  that  prevailed  in  the  government  of  the 
city  of  Buffalo.  He  was  elected,  and  entered  upon  the 
duties  of  office,  and  made  corrections  in  the  management 
of  the  affairs  of  that  city  so  clearly  and  so  well  defined 
that  the  people  of  New  York  took  him  up  and  made  him 
Governor  of  the  State,  and  that  is  the  way  he  comes  be- 
fore you  now.  He  who  corrects  all  evils  in  a  badly- 
administered  city,  and  who  goes  from  that  service  into 
the  affairs  of  the  State  government  and  makes  correc- 
tions there,  will  then  step,  in  the  natural  order  of  pro- 
ceeding, into  the  affairs  of  another  government  and  bring 
about  reforms  there. 

"  My  fellow-citizens,  I  did  not  intend  to  speak  thus 
long  to  vou.     The  Convention  at  Chicago  did  not  realize 

O  «/  O 

all  that  we  expected.  For  myself  I  had  no  expectations. 
In  no  respect,  in  no  sense,  was  I  a  candidate  for  any 
office  whatever.  We  did  not  realize  all  that  we  expected, 
but  I  believe  that  is  the  fate  of  humanity  almost  every- 
where and  under  almost  every  circumstance.  But  havo 


MR.    HEKDRICKS   AT  HOME.  339 

we  realized  that  which  should  encourage  us  to  make  an 
effort  for  good  government  ?  Not  that  I  want  the  office 
to  which  I  was  nominated,  for  you  know  that  I  did  not 
desire  that ;  but  somebody  must  be  nominated  for  Vice- 
President  to  run  on  the  ticket  with  the  candidate  for 
President,  and  when  the  ticket  is  presented  to  you,  yon 
are  called  upon  to  pass  judgment  upon  it  in  respect  to 
its  merits  throughout.  Will  you  support  it  ? 

"  And  in  asking  that  question  I  wish  to  ask  you  an- 
other. Do  you  not,  all  of  you,  Democrats  and  Republi- 
cans, believe  that  the  affairs  of  government  have  been 
long  enough  in  the  hands  of  one  set  of  men  ?  And  do 
you  not  all  believe  that  we  have  reached  a  period  when 
there  ought  to  be  a  change  ?  I  do  not  ask  that  all  shall 
be  turned  out.  That  is  not  the  idea.  It  is  not  the  idea 
that  if  a  man  has  done  his  duty  well  and  faithfully,  if  he 
has  not  used  the  powers  of  his  office  to  disturb  the  rights 
of  the  people,  if  he  has  not  furnished  money  to  corrupt 
elections,  if  he  has  simply  confined  himself  to  the  duties 
of  his  office — I  am  not  clamoring  for  his  official  blood. 
But,  my  fellow-citizens,  of  these  one  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  men  that  now  fill  official  positions  in  the  country, 
we  have  no  right  to  suppose,  from  all  that  has  taken 
place,  that  they  are  all  honest. 

"  I  have  every  faith  that  this  ticket  will  be  elected.  I 
think  I  know  something  about  Indiana.  We  will  prob- 
ably stand  here  together,  won't  we  ?  And  this  banner 


340  MR.    HENDRICKS   AT  HOME. 

of  liberty,  of  right,  of  justice,  of  fair  government,  that 
has  been  put  in  the  hands  of  Cleveland  and  Heiulricks 
shall  be  carried  and  placed  in  glorious  triumph  on  top 
of  the  national  Capitol  in  November  next.  Shall  this  be 
the  people's  banner  ?  I  have  lived  a  good  while.  I  have 
tried  to  secure  your  confidence  and  to  preserve  it,  and  all 
I  ask  of  you  is  your  support,  not  for  myself,  but  for  your- 
selves and  for  your  children  and  all  people.  Now,  I  have 
spoken  longer  than  I  intended.  I  know  when  any  of 
my  Republican  friends  who  are  intending  to  stand  by 
their  party  still  longer  shall  see  this  numerous  crowd 
here  to-night,  they  will  think  the  doom  of  the  fates  has 
come  at  last.  Why,  I  happened  up  street  a  few  weeks 
ago, — it  was  just  after  Elaine  and  Logan  were  nominated, 
— and  I  saw  a  little  gathering  of  very  honest  and  honor- 
able people  behaving  themselves  exceedingly  well  and 
very  quietly,  and  General  Harrison  was  delivering  to  them 
a  speech  about  the  nominations  ;  and  really  if  you  were  to 
bring  that  crowd  here  and  drop  it  right  down  among  you, 
we  should  hardly  notice  it  at  all.  What  does  this  mean  ? 
It  means  that  the  people  intend  to  have  reform  :  and  that 
is  the  watchword  that  is  written  upon  every  Democratic 
banner.  It  was  written  upon  the  Democratic  banner 
eight  years  ago,  and  Tilden  and  Hend ricks  carried  that 
banner.  But  reform  was  defeated  by  defeating  the  right 
of  the  people  to  elect  their  own  rulers ;  and  what  is  the 
consequence  ?  There  has  been  no  reduction  of  public  ex- 
penditures, although  the  war  is  all  the  while  passing  fur- 


MR.    HENDRICKS   AT  HOME.  341 

ther  and  further  away  from  us.  Still  the  Republican  Party 
makes  no  reduction  in  the  public  expenditures.  Shall 
we  have  cheap  government?  Shall  we  have  lower  taxes? 
They  tell  us  that  the  Government  can  be  well  carried  on 
for  $100,000,000  less  than  is  now  collected  from  the 
public.  If  Cleveland  shall  come  into  the  Presidential 
office,  I  believe  he  will  bring  the  expenditures  down  to  the 
last  dollar  that  will  support  the  Government  economically 
administered.  And  then  when  he  does  that  he  will  have 
accomplished  what  General  Jackson  said  was  the  duty 
of  any  government.  A  government  has  not  the  right  to 
collect  a  dollar  from  the  people,  except  what  is  necessary 
to  meet  the  public  service.  Whatever  a  government 
needs  it  has  a  right  to  come  to  me  and  to  you  and  to  all 
of  us  and  make  us  pay  for ;  but  when  it  gets  all  that  it 
needs  for  economical  administration  it  has  not  the  right 
to  take  another  sixpence  out  qf  our  pockets.  When  this 
ticket  shall  triumph,  that  idea  will  be  established  in  this 
country." 

Hon.  David  S.  Gooding  also  spoke,  and  in  his  adroit 
way  caught  the  ear  of  the  audience.  The  happiest  thing 
he  said  was  in  recalling  the  time  when  Mr.  Hendricks 
first  ran  for  Congress,  and  how  he  coached  him  in  his 
first  political  race.  "Why,"  said  the  speaker,  "I  made 
Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  and  that's  the  way  I  made  him  ; 
and  when  he  goes  to  Washington  I  hope  lie  won't  forget 
his  maker."  Mr.  Hendricks  was  convulsed  with  laughter, 
9-nd  nodded  that  he  wouldn't. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


ORIGIN  AND    EARLY  HISTORY  OF  THE 
DEMOCRATIC    PARTY. 

Party  Divisions  in  Colonial  Times.— "  Whigs"  and  "Tories."— 
The  Conflict  of  Colonial  Legislatures  and  Colonial  Governors. — 
Franklin  Suggests  a  Continental  Congress. — The  Whig  the  Only 
Party  of  Patriots  at  the  Beginning  of  the  Revolution. — Jefferson's 
Absence  during  the  Establishment  of  the  Constitution. — His  Sym- 
pathy with  French  Revolutionists. — His  Distrust  of  a  Monarchical 
Tendency  in  America. — He  enters  Washington's  Cabinet,  but  fears 
that  Federal  Power  is  too  great. — He  Founds  a  New  Party,  which 
was  at  first  called  "  Republican  "  because  "  Democrat  "  was  a  Term 
of  Reproach. — The  French  Revolution  Widens  the  Breach  between 
Federals  and  Republicans. — The^Famous  Alien  and  Sedition  Law. — 
Republican  Resolutions  against  it  which  Destroy  the  Federal  Party. 

In  Colonial  times  party  divisions  in  America  were 
reflections  of  those  in  England.  As  long  as  the  mother- 
country  conceded  to  the  Colonial  inhabitants  the  rights 
and  privileges  to  which  they  were  entitled  under  the 
Magna  Charta,  the  division  of  sentiment  was  not  strongly 
marked  ;  but  as  the  new  country  developed  and  the  exac- 
tions of  King  George  III.  became  more  oppressive,  the 
party  spirit  grew  until  in  1765,  when  the  Stamp  Act  was 
passed,  excitement  reached  a  high  pitch,  and  the  terms 


ORIGIN   AND   HISTORY   OF   THE    DEMOCRATIC    PARTY.     343 

"  Whig"  and  "  Tory"  had  a  stronger  meaning  in  America 
than  in  England.  The  Whigs  were  the  patriots ;  and  so 
great  was  their  majority  that  for  a  time  it  seemed  that 
only  those  who  were  directly  in  the  pay  of  England 
were  willing  to  be  called  Tories.  The  Colonial  Assem- 
blies were  Whig,  but  the  Colonial  governors  were  Tories, 
and  the  conflict  for  the  preservation  of  the  rights  of  the 
Colonies  resulted  in  a  clash  of  legislative  and  executive 
authority. 

In  Virginia,  Henry,  Kandolph,  Lee,  Washington,  and 
Wythe  were  leaders  ;  and  when  Lord  Dunmore  prorogued 
the  Assembly,  they  established  a  "  committee  of  corre- 
spondence," and  in  1774  that  body  deprecated  the  closing 
of  the  port  of  Boston,  and  set  apart  a  day  to  implore  the 
interposition  of  God  for  the  relief  of  the  Colonies.  The 
"  general  correspondence "  was  perfected  in  the  first 
Continental  Congress,  suggested  by  Dr.  Franklin  the 
year  before,  but  not  convened  until  September,  1774,  in 
Philadelphia.  The  second  Continental  Congress  met  in 

1775,  and  the  immortal  Declaration  drafted  by  Thomas 
Jefferson   was   adopted   in  the    following  year.     Up  to 
that  time,  and  during  the  long  struggle  which  followed, 
there  was  only  one  party  of  patriots — the  Whig. 

THE   BEGINNING-   OF   PARTIES    IN   THE   NEW   NATION. 

Thomas  Jefferson  retired  from  Congress  in  October, 

1776,  and  during  the  War  of  the  Revolution  he  served 


344    ORIGIN   AXD  HISTORY  OF  THE   DEMOCRATIC    PARTY. 

liis  country  chiefly  in  his  own  State,  where  he  reorga- 
nized the  government,  revising  the  Virginia  laws  and 
holding  the  office  of  governor  from  1779  to  1781.  In 
1783  he  returned  to  Congress,  and  as  chairman  of  a  com- 
mittee he  reported  the  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain. 
Two  years  later  he  succeeded  Dr.  Franklin  as  Minister 
to  France,  and  he  remained  at  the  French  Court  until 
1789. 

During  his  absence  from  the  country,  in  May,  1787, 
the  Convention  to  draft  the  Federal  Constitution  was 
held  at  Philadelphia,  and  on  the  4th  of  March,  1789,  the 
government  of  the  nation  was  organized  under  the 
Constitution.  During  the  confederation  which  is  the 
link  between  the  revolutionary  administration  and  gov- 
ernment under  the  Constitution,  it  was  feared  by  many 
that  the  nation  would  fall  apart,  and  at  the  time  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  the  danger  was  still  recog- 
nized, inability  to  pay  soldiers  who  had  been  disbanded 
in  1783  causing  extreme  embarrassment.  A  strong  party 
in  the  Convention  opposed  the  Constitution,  clinging  to 
the  old  confederacy  of  States  and  urging  a  renewal  of 
the  old  articles  of  confederation,  with  enlarged  powers 
for  Congress. 

Jefferson's  residence  in  France  had  given  him  an  in- 
tense sympathy  with  the  French  revolutionists  who  de- 
sired to  destroy  "  the  conspiracy  of  the  kings,"  and  he 
became  extremely  suspicious  of  an  attempt  to  overthrow 


ORIGIN   AND    HISTORY   OF   THE    DEMOCRATIC    PARTY.      345 

popular  government  and  establish  a  monarchy  in  his  own. 
country.  When  he  returned  to  America  in  1789  he  en- 
tered the  Cabinet  of  Washington  as  Secretary  of  State, 
but  lie  was  distrustful  of  the  power  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment over  the  States  and  desired  to  provide  some 
method  to  protect  their  rights. 

THE  FOUNDER  OF  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PARTY. 

Jefferson  soon  formed  a  party  which  was  at  first  com- 
monly called  "  Republican,"  and  the  title  was  retained 
until  December,  1805,  when  the  name  of  "  Democrats  " 
was  formally  adopted  by  the  party.  Jefferson  himself 
was  always  fond  of  the  latter  name,  but  at  the  outset 
the  charge  was  made  that  the  party  would  carry  their 
democratic  theories  to  the  extreme  of  "  mob-rule,"  and 
to  choose  the  name  "  Democrats,"  it  was  feared,  might 
give  their  enemies  a  foundation  for  the  charge.  Jef- 
ferson was  the  unquestioned  leader  of  the  new  party,  as 
Colonel  'Alexander  Hamilton  then  was  of  the  Federal 
Party,  and  the  strife  between  the  two  leaders  was  often, 
acrimonious.  As  early  as  1793  the  party-line  between 
Federalist  and  Republican  was  very  distinctly  drawn,  but 
Washington  desired  to  retain  both  Hamilton  and  Jeffer-^ 
son,  the  leaders  of  the  factions,  in  his  Cabinet  as  long  as 
he  remained  in  office. 


346      ORIGIN   AND   HISTORY   OF  THE   DEMOCRATIC    PARTY. 
THE    FRENCH    REVOLUTION    WIDENS    THE    BREACH. 

Soon  after  "Washington's  second  inauguration,  Genet, 
an  envoy  of  France,  excited  a  new  strife  in  the  Cabinet 
by  an  attempt  to  secure  recognition  for  the  French  Re- 
public and  embitter  the  relations  of  the  United  States 
with  Great  Britain.  Washington,  as  well  as  Hamilton 
and  other  Federalists,  favored  non-intervention,  but  Jef- 
ferson and  his  Republican  followers  declared  that  grati- 
tude to  France  for  aid  during  the  Revolutionary  War 
demanded  the  proffer  of  assistance  in  her  struggles,  re- 
gardless of  the  danger  of  exciting  another  war  with  the 
British.  The  authority  of  Washington  was  decisive, 
however,  and  lie  issued  his  famous  proclamation  of  neu- 
trality which  has  ever  since  been  accepted  as  the  true 
policy  of  the  government  in  all  similar  emergencies. 

The  second  President,  John  Adams,  was  a  Federalist, 
and  during  his  administration  party  strife  was  very  fierce. 
Jefferson  had  retired  from  the  Cabinet  in  1791,  return- 
ing to  Virginia  to  write  political  tracts  and  complete  the 
organization  of  the  Republican  Party,  of  which  he  wa.s 
the  recognized  founder.  He  thus  escaped  the  effect  of 
mistakes  made  by  his  party  associates  in  Congress,  and  he 
was  a  formidable  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  receiving 
onlv  three  less  votes  than  Adams.  James  Madison  was 
the  Republican  leader  in  Congress  during  Jefferson's  re- 
tirement, and  he  fought  the  party  battles  with  much  vigor. 


ORIGIN"   AND    HISTORY   OF   THE    DEMOCRATIC    PARTY.     347 

Adams  was  inaugurated  in  Philadelphia  on  March  4th, 
1797,  and  in  his  inaugural  address  he  was  careful  to  deny 
that  the  Federal  Party  was  in  sympathy  with  Great  Brit- 
ain ;  but  the  French  revolution  was  then  at  its  highest 
point,  and  Republicans  fiercely  assailed  the  administra- 
tion for  indifference  to  the  French  cause.  The  policy  of 
neutrality  was  maintained,  however,  although  it  was 
found  necessary  to  establish  a  n?.vy  to  protect  our  com- 
merce. An  outbreak  of  war  with  France  was  narrowly 
escaped  early  in  1798,  and  the  Federalists  advocated  the 
enlargement  of  both  the  army  and  the  navy,  but  the  Re- 
publicans asserted  that  the  military  power  of  the  govern- 
ment was  already  sufficient. 

The  Federalists  gained  strength  by  their  prompt  re- 
pulsion of  French  aggression,  and  the}r  endeavored  to 
fortify  their  position  by  the  enactment  of  the  celebrated 
Alien  and  Sedition  Law,  which  gave  the  President  au- 
thority "  to  order  all  such  aliens  as  he  shall  judge  danger- 
ous to  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  United  States,  or  shall 
have  reasonable  grounds  to  suspect  are  concerned  in  any 
treasonable  or  secret  machinations  against  the  government 
thereof,  to  depart  out  of  the  territory  of  the  United 
States  within  such  time  as  shall  be  expressed  in  such  or- 
der." The  Federalists  also  desired  a  naturalization  law 
which  would  permit  no  alien  to  vote  until  after  a  resi- 
dence in  the  United  States  of  fourteen  years. 


348      ORIGIX   AXD   HISTORY    OF  THE    DEMOCRATIC    PARTY. 
THE   FIRST   POLITICAL   PLATFORM   IN    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

A  storm  resulted  from  these  measures,  and  both  Jef- 
ferson and  Madison  drafted  resolutions  pronouncing  the 
Alien  and  Sedition  Law  unconstitutional.  The  famous 
Virginia  resolutions  of  1798  wen:  drawn  l>y  Madison,  and. 
constitute  the  iirst  political  platform  enunciated  in  the 
United  States.  That  fact,  together  with  the  interest  at- 
taching to  their  definition  of  the  rights  of  the  States,  re- 
quires their  insertion  in  this  place. 

"!N  THE  VIRGINIA  HOUSE  OF  DELEGATES, 
Friday,  Dec.  21st,  1798. 

"fiesolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia 
doth  unequivocally  express  a  firm  resolution  to  maintain 
and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  constitution  of  this  State,  against  every  aggression 
either  foreign  or  domestic;  and  that  they  will  support 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  in  all  measures 
warranted  by  the  former. 

"That  this  Assembly  most  solemnly  declares  a  warm 
attachment  to  the  Union  of  the  States,  to  maintain  which 
it  pledges  its  powers ;  and  that,  for  this  end,  it  is  their 
duty  to  watch  over  and  oppose  every  infraction  of  those 
principles  which  constitute  the  only  basis  of  that  Union, 
because  a  faithful  observance  of  them  can  alone  secure  its 
existence  and  the  public  happiness. 


ORIGIN   AND   HISTORY    OF   THE   DEMOCRATIC    PAHTY.     349 

"Tkat  tliis  Assembly  doth  explicitly  and  peremptorily 
declare  that  it  views  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment, as  resulting  from  the  compact  to  which  the  States 
are  parties,  as  limited  by  the  plain  sense  and  intention  of 
the  instrument  constituting  that  compact,  as  no  farther 
valid,  than  they  are  authorized  by  the  grants  enumerated 
in  that  compact ;  and  that  in  case  of  a  deliberate,  palpa- 
ble, and  dangerous  exercise  of  other  powers  not  granted 
by  the  said  compact,  the  States,  who  are  parties  thereto, 
have  the  right,  and  are  in  duty  bound,  to  interpose,  for 
arresting  the  progress  of  the  evil,  arid  for  maintaining 
within  their  respective  limits  the  authorities,  rights,  and 
liberties  appertaining  to  them. 

"That  the  General  Assembly  doth  also  express  its 
deep  regret  that  a  spirit  has,  in  sundry  instances,  been 
manifested  by  the  Federal  Government  to  enlarge  its 
powers  by  forced  constructions  of  the  constitutional  char- 
ter which  defines  them ;  and  that  indications  have  ap- 
peared of  a  design  to  expound  certain  general  phrases 
(which,  having  been  copied  from  the  very  limited  grant 
of  powers  in  the  former  Articles  of  Confederation,  were 
the  less  liable  to  be  misconstrued)  so  as  to  destroy  the 
meaning  and  effect  of  the  particular  enumeration  which 
necessarily  explains  and  limits  the  general  phrases,  and 
so  as  to  consolidate  the  States  by  degrees  into  one  sover- 
eignty, the  obvious  tendency  and  inevitable  result  of 
which  would  be  to  transform  the  present  republican 


350      ORIGIN    AND    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEMOCRATIC    PARTY. 

.-ystcin  of  the  United  States  into  an  absolute,  or  at  best  a 
mixed,  monarchy. 

"  That  the  General  Assembly  doth  particularly  protest 
against  the  palpable  and  alarming  infractions  of  the 
Constitution,  in  the  two  late  cases  of  the  '  Alien  and 
Sedition  Acts,'  passed  at  the  last  session  of  Congress; 
the  first  of  which  exercises  a  power  nowhere  delegated 
to  the  Federal  Government,  and  which,  by  uniting  legis- 
lative and  judicial  powers  to  those  of  executive,  subverts 
the  general  principles  of  free  government,  as  well  as  the 
particular  organization  and  positive  provisions  of  the. 
Federal  Constitution  ;  and  the  other  of  which  acts  exer- 
.  in  like  manner,  a  power  not  delegated  by  the  Con- 
stitution, but,  on  the  contrary,  expressly  and  po.-itivelv 
forbidden  by  one  of  the  amendments  thereto;  a  power 
which,  more  than  any  other,  ought  to  produce  universal 
alarm  because  it  is  levelled  against  the  rigkt  of  freely 
examining  public  characters  and  measures,  and  of  free 
communication  among  the  people  thereon,  which  has 
ever  been  justly  deemed  the  only  effectual  guardian  of 
every  other  right. 

'•That  this  State  having  by  its  Convention  which  rati- 
fied the  Federal  Constitution  expressly  declared  that, 
among  other  essential  rights,  'the  liberty  of  conscience 
and  the  press  cannot  be  cancelled,  abridged,  restrained, 
or  modified  by  any  authority  of  the  United  States,'  and, 
from  its  extreme  anxiety  to  guard  these  rights  from  every 


ORIGIN   AND   FISTORY   OF  THE   DEMOCRATIC   PARTY.     351 

possible  attack  of  sophistry  and  ambition,  having  with 
other  States  recommended  an  amendment  for  that  pur- 
pose, which  amendment  was,  in  due  time,  annexed  to  the 
Constitution,  it  would  mark  a  reproachful  inconsistency, 
aiod  criminal  degeneracy,  if  an  indifference  were  now 
shown  to  the  most  palpable  violation  of  one  of  the  rights 
thus  declared  and  secured,  and  to  the  establishment  of  a 
precedent  which  may  be  fatal  to  the  other. 

"That  the  good  people  of  this  commonwealth  having 
ever  felt,  and  continuing  to  feel,  the  most  sincere  affection 
for  their  brethren  of  the  other  States ;  the  truest  anxiety 
for  establishing  and  perpetuating  the  Union  of  all ;  and 
the  most  scrupulous  fidelity  to  that  Constitution  which 
is  the  pledge  of  mutual  friendship  and  the  instrument  of 
mutual  happiness :  the  General  Assembly  doth  solemly 
appeal  to  the  like  dispositions  in  the  other  States,  in  confi- 
dence that  they  will  concur  with  this  commonwealth  in 
declaring,  as  it  does  hereby  declare,  that  the  acts  afore- 
said are  unconstitutional ;  and  that  the  necessary  and 
proper  measures  will  be  taken  by  each  for  co-operating 
with  this  State  in  maintaining  unimpaired  the  authorities, 
rights,  and  liberties  reserved  to  the  States,  respectively, 
or  to  the  people. 

"  That  the  governor  be  desired  to  transmit  a  copy  of 
the  foregoing  resolutions  to  the  executive  authority  of 
each  of  the  other  States,  with  a  request  that  the  same 
may  be  communicated  to  the  legislature  thereof ;  and 


352     ORIGIN   AND   HISTOBT   OF  THE   DEMOCRATIC   PARTY. 

that  a  copy  be  furnished  to  each  of  the  Senators  and 
Representatives  representing  this  State  in  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States. 

"Attest,  JOHN  STEWART. 

"  1798,  December  24.     Agreed  to  by  the  Senate. 

"II.  BROOKE. 

"  A  true  copy  from  the  original  deposited  in  the  office 
of  the  General  Assembly. 

"  JOHN  STEWART,  Keeper  of  Rolls." 

AX    ADDRESS   TO    THE    PEOPLE. 

The  address  to  the  people  which  accompanied  the 
resolutions  set  forth  principles  which  must  be  studied  by 
those  who  would  understand  the  early  history  of  the 
Democratic  Party,  as  follows : 

"  FKi.r.ow-OYn/.KNs  :  Unwilling  to  shrink  from  our  rep- 
resentative responsibility,  conscious  of  the  purity  of  our 
motive?,  but .acknowledging  your  right  to  supervise  our 
conduct,  we  invite  your  serious  attention  to  the  emer- 
gency which  dictated  the  subjoined  resolutions.  Whilst 
we  disdain  to  alarm  you  by  ill-founded  jealousies,  we 
recommend  an  investigation,  guided  by  the  coolness  of 
wisdom,  and  a  decision  bottomed  on  firmness  but  tem- 
pered with  moderation. 

"  It  would  be  perfidious  in  those  entrusted  with  the 
guardianship  of  the  State  sovereignty,  and  acting  under 
the  solemn  obligation  of  the  following  oath,  'I  do  swear 


ORIGIN"   AND   HISTORY  OF  THE   DEMOCRATIC   PARTY.     353 

that  I  will  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,5 
not  to  warn  you  of  encroachments  which,  though  clothed 
with  the  pretext  of  necessity,  or  disguised  by  arguments 
of  expediency,  may  yet  establish  precedents  which  may 
ultimately  devote  a  generous  and  unsuspicious  people  to 
all  the  consequences  of  usurped  power. 

"  Encroachments  springing  from  a  government  whose 
organization  cannot  be  maintained  without  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  States,  furnish  the  strongest  incitements  upon 
the  State  legislatures  to  watchfulness,  and  impose  upon 
them  the  strongest  obligation  to  preserve  unimpaired  the 
line  of  partition. 

'•The  acquiescence  of  the  States  under  infractions  of 
the  federal  compact  would  either  beget  a  speedy  consoli- 
dation, by  precipitating  the  State  governments  into  im- 
potency  and  contempt,  or  prepare  the  way  for  a  revo- 
lution, by  a  repetition  of  these  infractions,  until  the 
people  are  aroused  to  appear  in  the  majesty  of  their 
strength.  It  is  to  avoid  these  calamities  that  we  exhibit 
to  the  people  the  momentous  question  whether  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  shall  yield  to  a  con- 
struction which  defies  every  restraint  and  overwhelms 
the  best  hopes  of  republicanism. 

"Exhortations  to  disregard  domestic  usurpations  until 
foreign  danger  shall  have  passed  is  an  artifice  which  may 
be  forever  used ;  because  the  possessors  of  power,  who 
are  the  advocates  for  its  extension,  can  ever  create 


354     ORIGIN   AND   HISTORY    OF  THE    DEMOCRATIC    PARTY. 

national  embarrassments,  to  be  successfully  employed  to 
soothe  the  people  into  sleep  whilst  that  power  is  swell- 
ilently,  secretly,  and  fatally.  Of  the  same  character 
are  insinuations  of  a  foreign  influence,  which  poize  upon 
a  laudable  enthusiasm  against  danger  from  abroad,  and 
distort  it  by  an  unnatural  application,  so  as  to  blind  your 
eyes  against  danger  at  home. 

'•The  Sedition  Act  presents  a  scene  which  was  never 
expected  by  the  early  friends  of  the  Constitution.  It 
•was  then  admitted  that  the  State  sovereignties  were  only 
diminished  by  powers  specifically  enumerated,  or  neces- 
sary to  carry  the  specified  powers  into  effect.  Now 
Federal  authority  is  deduced  from  implication,  and  from 
the  existence  of  State  law  it  is  inferred  that  Congress 
possesses  a  similar  power  of  legislation  ;  whence  Con- 
gress will  be  endowed  with  a  power  of  legislation  in  all 
cases  whatsoever,  and  the  States  will  be  stripped  of 
every  right  reserved  by  the  concurrent  claims  of  a  para- 
mount legislature. 

"  The  Sedition  Act  is  the  offspring  of  these  tremendous 
pretensions  which  inflict  a  death-wound  on  the  sover- 
eignty of  these  States. 

"For  the  honor  of  American  understanding,  we  will 
not  believe  that  the  people  have  been  allured  into  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution  by  an  affectation  of  defin- 
ing powers,  whilst  the  preamble  would  admit  a  con- 
struction which  would  erect  the  will  of  Congress  into  a 


ORIGIN"   AND   HISTORY   OF  THE   DEMOCRATIC   PARTY.      355 

power  paramount  in  all  cases,  and  therefore  limited  in 
none.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  evident  that  the  objects 
for  which  the  Constitution  was  formed  were  deemed  at- 
tainable only  by  a  particular  enumeration  and  specifica- 
tion of  each  power  granted  to  the  Federal  Government ; 
reserving  all  others  to  the  people  or  to  the  States. 
And  yet  it  is  in  vain  we  search  for  any  specified  power 
embracing  the  right  of  legislation  against  the  freedom  of 
the  press. 

"  Had  the  States  been  despoiled  of  their  sovereignty 
by  the  generality  of  the  preamble,  and  had  the  Federal 
Government  been  endowed  with  whatever  they  should 
judge  to  be  instrumental  towards  union,  justice,  tran- 
quillity, common  defence,  general  welfare,  and  the  pres- 
ervation of  liberty,  nothing  could  have  been  more  friv- 
olous than  an  enumeration  of  powers. 

"All  the  preceding  arguments  rising  from  a  de- 
ficiency of  constitutional  power  in  Congress  apply  to 
the  Alien  Act,  and  this  act  is  liable  to  other  objections 
peculiar  to  itself.  If  a  suspicion  that  aliens  are  dan- 
gerous constitutes  the  justification  of  that  power  exer- 
cised over  them  by  Congress,  then  a  similar  suspicion 
will  justify  the  exercise  of  a  similar  power  over  iKitives. 
Because  there  is  nothing  in  the  Constitution  distinguish- 
ing between  the  power  of  a  State  to  permit  the  residence 
of  natives  and  aliens.  It  is  therefore  a  right  originally 
possessed  and  never  surrendered  by  the  respective 


356     ORIGIN-    AND    HISTORY    OF   THE    DEMOCRATIC    PARTY. 

States,  and  which  is  rendered  dear  and  valuable  to  Vir- 
ginia because  it  is  assailed  through  the  bosom  of  tlio 
Constitution,  and  because  her  peculiar  situation  renders 
the  easy  admission  of  artisans  and  laborers  an  interest  of 
vast  importance. 

"  But  this  bill  contains  other  features,  still  more 
alarming  and  dangerous.  It  dispenses  with  the  trial  by 
jury;  it  violates  the  judicial  system  ;  it  confounds  legis- 
lative, executive,  and  judicial  powers;  it  punishes  with- 
out trial ;  and  it  bestows  upon  the  President  despotic 
power  over  a  numerous  class  of  men.  Are  such  meas- 
ures consistent  with  our  constitutional  principles?  And 
will  an  accumulation  of  power  so  extensive  in  the  hands 
of  the  executive,  over  aliens,  secure  to  natives  the  bless- 
ings of  republican  liberty  ? 

"If  measures  can  mould  governments,  and  if  an  un- 
controlled power  of  construction  is  surrendered  to  those 
who  administer  them,  their  progress  may  be  easily  fore- 
seen and  their  end  easily  foretold.  A  lover  of  mon- 
archy who  opens  the  treasures  of  corruption  by  dis- 
tributing emolument  among  devoted  partisans,  may  at 
the  same  time  be  approaching  his  object  and  deluding 
the  people  with  professions  of  republicanism.  He  may 
confound  monarchy  and  republicanism  by  the  art  of 
definition.  He  may  varnish  over  the  dexterity  which 
ambition  never  fails  to  display,  with  the  pliancy  of  lan- 
guage, the  seduction  of  expediency,  or  the  prejudices  of 


ORIGIN   AND   HISTORY   OF   THE    DEMOCRATIC    TARTY.    357 

the  times.     And  lie  mav  come  at  length  to  avow  that  so 

v  o 

extensive  a  territory  as  that  of  the  United  States  can 
only  be  governed  hy  the  energies  of  monarchy ;  that  it 
cannot  be  defended  except  by  standing  armies;  and  that 
it  cannot  be  united  except  by  consolidation. 

"Measures  have  already  been  adopted  which  may  lead 
to  these  consequences.  They  consist : 

"  In  fiscal  systems  and  arrangements  which  keep  a 
host  of  commercial  and  wealthy  individuals  embodied 
and  obedient  to  the  mandates  of  the  Treasury. 

"  In  armies  and  navies  which  will,  on  the  one  hand, 
enlist  the  tendency  of  man  to  pay  homage  to  his  fellow- 
creature  who  can  feed  or  honor  him  ;  and,  on  the  other, 
employ  the  principle  of  fear,  by  punishing  imaginary  in- 
surrections, under  the  pretext  of  preventive  justice. 

"  In  swarms  of  officers,  civil  and  military,  who  can  in- 
culcate political  tenets  tending  to  consolidation  ,  nd 
monarchy,  both  by  indulgences  and  severities ;  and  can 
act  as  spies  over  the  free  exercise  of  human  reason. 

"In  restraining  the  freedom  of  the  pi-ess,  and  invest- 
ing the  executive  with  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial 
powers  over  a  numerous  body  of  men. 

"  And,  that  we  may  shorten  the  catalogue,  in  establish- 
ing by  successive  precedents  such  a  mode  of  construing 
the  Constitution  as  will  rapidly  remove  every  restraint 
upon  federal  power. 

"  Let  history  be  consulted  ;  let  the  man  of  experience 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


THE  PARTY'S  LEADERS  AND  PRINCIPLES. 

Jefferson's  Election  to  the  Presidency. — His  Letter  to  Nathaniel 
Mucon  outlining  his  Policy. — A  Uniform  System  of  Naturalization 
established. — The  Embargo  Act  passed  by  Congress.  — Madison's 
Administration. — His  Views  on  State  Supremacy. — "The  Era  of 
Good  Feeling." — The  Monroe  Doctrine  and  the  "American  System." 
— Jackson's  Differences  with  Calhoun. — Van  Buren  and  Harrison's 
Uneventful  Terms. — The  Compromise  Act  of  1833. — The  Contest  of 
1844.— The  "5440  Plank."— The  Elections  of  1848  and  1852.— Clay, 
Webster,  and  Calhoun  on  the  Tariff  Question. 

Ex-President  Theodore  D.  "Woolsev,  of  Tale  College, 
has  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  French  Republic  is 
not  likely  to  be  permanent  because  it  lacks  the  balance 
which  our  system  of  State  governments  gives  to  the  Re- 
public of  the  United  States.  As  the  exponent  of  the 
doctrine  of  State  rights  the  Democratic  Party  was  estab- 
lished by  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  its  services  in  giving  to 
this  country  the  balance  which  France  lacks  have  been 
invaluable.  It  is  true  that  Calhoun  and  some  other  dis- 
tinguished Democrats  carried  the  doctrine  too  far,  yet  it 
was  not  their  mistake  but  slavery  that  caused  the  great 


THE  PARTY'S  LEADERS  AND  PRINCIPLES.         361 

civil  war  of  1861-65,  and  the  principle  as  harmonized 
with  the  Constitution  by  the  founder  of  the  Democratic 
Party  cannot  be  successfully  assailed. 

Thomas  Jefferson,  the  defender  of  State  rights,  the 
advocate  of  economy  of  administration,  the  exponent  of 
true  democracy,  is  a  figure  in  history  to  which  the  eye 
ever  turns  with  delight,  and  as  a  leader  he  embodied  the 
principles  which  are  still  the  foundation  of  the  party 
which  he  established. 

THE    CONTEST   OF    1800. 

In  the  election  of  1800  there  was  a  breach  in  the  Fede- 
ral Party,  owing  to  dislike  of  Adams,  and  the  Democrats 
used  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Law  with  powerful  effect 
against  him.  The  Federalists  were  defeated.  Jefferson 

o 

and  Burr  had  each  seventy-three  votes  in  the  Electoral 
College,  and  the  election  was  carried  to  the  House  of 
Representatives.  For  seven  days  the  balloting  proceeded, 
and  after  it  was  ascertained  that  a  Democrat  would  be 
elected  the  Federalists  voted  for  Burr  as  being  less  ob- 
jectionable than  Jefferson,  and  they  were  all  mortified 
and  humiliated  by  Jefferson's  triumph.  Soon  after  his 
inauguration  he  addressed  the  following  letter  to  Na- 
thaniel Macon,  in  Congress,  indicating  his  policy  : 

I  "WASHINGTON,  May  14th,  1801. 

"DEAR  SIR:  Your  favors  of  April  the  20th  and  23d 
had  been  received,  and  the  commission  made  out  for  Mr. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


THE  PARTY'S  LEADERS  AND  PRINCIPLES. 

Jefferson's  Election  to  the  Presidency. — His  Letter  to  Nathaniel 
Macon  outlining  his  Policy. — A  Uniform  System  of  Naturalization 
established. — The  Embargo  Act  passed  by  Congress. —  Madison's 
Administration. — His  Views  on  State  Supremacy. — "The  Era  of 
Good  Feeling." — The  Monroe  Doctrine  and  the  "American  System." 
— Jackson's  Differences  with  Calhoun. — Van  Buren  and  Harrison's 
Uneventful  Terms.— The  Compromise  Act  of  1833.— The  Contest  of 
1844.— The  "  54-40  Plunk."— The  Elections  of  1848  and  1852.— Clay, 
Webster,  and  Calhoun  on  the  Tariff  Question. 

Ex-President  Theodore  D.  "Woolsey,  of  Tale  College, 
lias  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  French  Republic  is 
not  likely  to  be  permanent  because  it  lacks  the  balance 
which  our  system  of  State  governments  gives  to  the  Re- 
public of  the  United  States.  As  the  exponent  of  the 
doctrine  of  State  rights  the  Democratic  Party  was  estab- 
lished by  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  its  services  in  giving  to 
this  country  the  balance  which  France  lacks  have  been 
invaluable.  It  is  true  that  Calhoun  and  some  other  dis- 
tinguished Democrats  carried  the  doctrine  too  far,  yet  it 
was  not  their  mistake  but  slavery  that  caused  the  great 


THE  PAKTT'S  LEADERS  AND  PRINCIPLES.         361 

civil  war  of  1861-65,  and  the  principle  as  harmonized 
with  the  Constitution  by  the  founder  of  the  Democratic 
Party  cannot  be  successfully  assailed. 

Thomas  Jefferson,  the  defender  of  State  rights,  the 
advocate  of  economy  of  administration,  the  exponent  of 
true  democracy,  is  a  figure  in  history  to  which  the  eye 
ever  turns  with  delight,  and  as  a  leader  he  embodied  the 
principles  which  are  still  the  foundation  of  the  party 
which  he  established. 

THE    CONTEST   OF    1800. 

In  the  election  of  1800  there  was  a  breach  in  the  Fede- 
ral Party,  owing  to  dislike  of  Adams,  and  the  Democrats 
used  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Law  with  powerful  effect 
against  him.  The  Federalists  were  defeated.  Jefferson 
and  Burr  had  each  seventy-three  votes  in  the  Electoral 
College,  and  the  election  was  carried  to  the  House  of 
Representatives.  For  seven  days  the  balloting  proceeded, 
and  after  it  was  ascertained  that  a  Democrat  would  be 
elected  the  Federalists  voted  for  Burr  as  being  less  ob- 
jectionable than  Jefferson,  and  they  were  all  mortified 
and  humiliated  by  Jefferson's  triumph.  Soon  after  his 
inauguration  he  addressed  the  following  letter  to  Na- 
thaniel Macon,  in  Congress,  indicating  his  policy  : 

I  "WASHINGTON,  May  14th,  1801. 

"DEAR  SIR:  Your  favors  of  April  the  20th  and  23d 
had  been  received,  and  the  commission  made  out  for  Mr. 


362        THE  PARTY'S  LEADERS  AND  PRINCIPLES. 

Potts  before  I  received  the  letter  of  the  1st  inst.  I  have 
still  thought  it  better  to  forward  the  commission  in  the 
hope  that  reconsideration  or  the  influence  of  yourself  and 
friends  might  induce  an  acceptance  of  it.  Should  it  be 
otherwise,  you  must  recommend  some  other  good  person, 
as  I  had  rather  be  guided  by  your  opinion  than  that  of 
the  person  you  refer  to.  Perhaps  Mr.  Potts  may  be  will- 
ing to  stop  the  gap  till  you  meet  and  repeal  the  law.  If 
lie  does  not,  let  me  receive  a  recommendation  from  you 
as  quickly  as  possible,  and  in  all  cases,  when  an  office  be- 
comes vacant  in  your  State,  as  the  distance  would  occa- 
sion a  great  delay  were  you  to  wait  to  be  regularly  con- 
sulted, I  shall  be  much  obliged  to  you  to  recommend  the 
best  characters.  There  is  nothing  I  am  so  anxious  about 
as  making  the  best  possible  appointments,  and  no  case  in 
which  the  best  men  are  more  liable  to  mislead  us  by 
yielding  to  the  solicitations  of  applicants.  For  this  rea- 
son your  own  spontaneous  recommendation  would  be 
desirable.  Now  to  answer  your  particulars  seriatim. 

"  Levees  are  done  away. 

"The  first  communication  to  the  next  Congress  will 
be,  like  all  subsequent  ones,  by  message,  to  which  no 
answer  will  be  expected. 

'"The  diplomatic  establishment  in  Europe  will  be  re- 
duced to  three  ministers. 

"  The  compensation  to  collectors  depends  on  you  and 
not  on  me.  » 


THE  PARTY'S  LEADERS  AND  PRINCIPLES.         363 

"  The  army  is  undergoing  a  chaste  reformation. 

"  The  navy  will  be  reduced  to  the  legal  establishment 
by  the  last  of  this  month. 

"  Agencies  in  every  department  will  be  revised. 

"  We  shall  push  you  to  the  utmost  in  economizing. 

"  A  very  early  recommendation  had  been  given  to  the 
Postmaster-General  to  employ  no  printer,  foreigner,  or 
revolutionary  tory  in  any  of  his  offices.  This  depart- 
ment is  still  untouched. 

"The  arrival  of  Mr.  Gallatin  yesterday  completed  the 
organization  of  our  administration. 

"  Accept  assurances  of  my  sincere  esteem  and  high  re- 
spect. 

"  TH:  JEFFERSON." 


JEFFERSON  S   UNIFORM    SYSTEM   OF   NATURALIZATION. 

The  Seventh  Session  of  Congress,  on  the  recommenda- 
tion of  President  Jefferson,  established  a  uniform  system 
of  naturalization,  and  the  first  sinking  fund  for  the 
redemption  of  the  public  debt.  The  purchase  and 
admission  of  Louisiana  was  the  most  important  occur- 
rence under  his  first  administration.  He  recommended 
the  passage  by  Congress  of  an  act  prohibiting  the  Afri- 
can slave-trade  after  January  1st,  1808,  and  it  was  passed 
accordingly. 

Jefferson's  recommendation  to  Congress  for  the  passage 


364          THE  PARTY'S  LEADERS  AND  PRINCIPLES. 

of  the  Embargo  Act  in  1807  was  another  important 
event  in  his  administration.  By  it  lie  sought  to  forbid 
the  American  people  from  trading  with  the  French  and 
English,  in  the  expectation  that  these  two  nations  for  the 
want  of  our  raw  material  and  produce  would  hasten  to 
respect  our  flag  and  no  more  board  our  merchantmen 
in  search  of  articles  contraband  of  war,  nor  press  our 
seamen  into  service. 


MADISON'S  ELECTION  TO  THE  PRESIDENCY. 

Madison,  who  succeeded  to  the  Presidency  at  a 
gloomy  period  in  our  history,  received  122  electoral 
votes.  Representing  as  he  did  the  same  party  as  Jef- 
ferson, he  resolved  to  follow  the  same  policy  as  his 
predecessor.  His  views  on  the  question  of  State  su- 
premacy are  best  understood  by  reference  to  a  letter 
which  he  addressed  to  Edmund  Randolph  in  1787,  in 
which  he  wrote:  "I  hold  it  for  a  fundamental  point  that 
an  individual  independence  of  the  States  is  utterly 
irreconcilable  with  the  idea  of  aggregate  sovereignty." 

During  his  term  of  office  Congress,  at  his  suggestion, 
established  a  protective  tariff.  In  1S1G  he  was  anxious 
to  establish  a  national  bank,  and  a  bill  for  that  purpose 
was  introduced  in  Congress,  but  was  strongly  opposed  by 
Democrats  and  many  Federals. 


THE  PARTY'S  LEADERS  AND  PRINCIPLES.         365 

THE  "ERA  or  GOOD  FEELING." 

The  election  of  James  Monroe  as  President,  in  1816 
by  183  electoral  votes,  against  34  cast  for  Rufus  King, 
was  followed  by  what  has  ever  since  been  known  as  the 
"Era  of  Good  Feeling."  While  Monroe  professed  to 
believe  that  a  free  government  could  exist  without 
political  parties,  he  sought  to  bring  all  the  people  into 
the  Democratic  fold.  The  famous  "Monroe  Doctrine" 
was  embodied  in  his  annual  message  of  1823.  President 
Monroe  gave  his  approval  during  his  second  administra- 
tion to  what  was  then  known  as  the- "American  system" 
for  the  protection  of  home  industry. 

"OLD  HICKORY'S"  ADMINISTRATION. 

In  1828  Andrew  Jackson  was  elected  to  the  Presi- 
dency, receiving  178  electoral  votes,  against  83  received 
by  John  Quincy  Adams.  Calhoun,  who  was  elected 
Vice-President,  was  personally  alienated  from  Jackson. 
Jackson's  course  relative  to  appointments  on  political 
grounds  caused  much  offence.  Calhoun's  followers  advo- 
cated nullification,  and  demanded  the  reduction  of  duties 
to  the  extent  of  the  disavowal  of  the  protective  princi- 
ple, threatening  that  South  Carolina  would  nullify  the 
revenue  laws  if  they  should  not  be  repealed.  Jackson 
was  opposed  to  a  high  tariff,  but  was  determined  to  en,- 


366        THE  PARTY'S  LEADERS  AXD  PRINCIPLES. 

force  existing  laws.  Finally,  through  the  influence  of 
Henry  Clay,  a  compromise  was  effected,  which  resulted 
in  the  modification  of  the  tariff. 

The  4th  of  March,  1837,  ushered  in  another  Demo- 
cratic administration — the  beginning  of  the  term  of  Mar- 
tin Van  Buren,  who  received  170  electoral  votes.  The 
present  practice  of  "  pairing  off"  was  introduced  for  the 
first  time  in  Congress  at  the  first  session  of  the  Twenty- 
sixth  Congress  in  1839.  Mr.  Yan  IJuivn  was  at  the  cud 
of  his  term  renominated,  being  opposed  by  "William  H. 
Harrison  and  James  G.  Birney.  The  result  of  the  elec- 
tion was  a  complete  rout  of  the  Democratic  Party,  but 
without  the  moral  effect  of  victory ;  Harrison  receiving 
234  votes,  against  Van  Buren's  60.  Harrison,  who  was 
a  Whig,  was  the  first  President  not  a  Democrat  after  the 
installation  of  General  Jackson. 

Harrison  died  just  one  month  after  his  inauguration, 
and  at  the  extra  session  of  the  Twenty-seventh  Congress, 
which  met  on  May  31st,  1841,  a  proposition  to  appropri- 
ate one  year's  salary  to  the  widow  of  the  late  President 
was  strenuously  opposed  by  the  Democratic  members  as 
unconstitutional,  and  as  establishing  a  dangerous  prece- 
dent. 

THE    COMPROMISE    ACT   OF    1833. 

John  Tyler  had  assumed  the  Presidency  by  virtue  of 
his  office.  At  this  session  the  tariff  occupied  the  atten- 


THE  PARTY'S  LEADERS  AND  PRINCIPLES.         367 

tion  of  Congress.  The  Compromise  Act,  as  it  was  called, 
of  1833,  which  was  composed  of  two  parts,  one  to  last 
nine  years,  for  the  benefit  of  manufacturers,  the  other  to 
last  forever,  for  the  benefit  of  the  planting  and  consum- 
ing interests,  was  passed  in  pursuance  of  an  agreement 
between  Henry  Clay  and  John  C.  Calhoun  and  their  re- 
spective friends,  at  the  time  the  former  was  urging  the 
necessity  for  a  continuance  of  high  tariff  for  the  protec- 
tion of  revenue,  and  the  latter  was  justifying  before  Con- 
gress the  nullification  ordinance  adopted  by  the  legisla- 
ture of  South  Carolina.  The  chief  measure  of  the  ses- 
sion was  the  recharter  of  a  national  bank.  The  President 
while  a  member  of  the  Democratic  Party  had  been  op- 
posed to  the  United  States  bank,  and  he  vetoed  the  bill. 
This  movement  almost  caused  the  establishment  of  a  new 
party,  with  Mr.  Tyler  at  its  head,  earnest  efforts  having 
been  made  in  that  direction  by  Whigs  and  Democrats. 

THE   CONTEST   OF    1844. 

"When  the  Democratic  Presidential  Convention  assem- 
bled in  Baltimore  in  1844,  a  majority  of  the  delegates 
favored  Martin  Van  Buren's  nomination,  but  his  oppo- 
nents were  successful  in  depriving  him  of  a  two-third 
vote  and  he  failed  to  receive  the'  nomination.  Henry 
Clay  received  the  Whig  nomination.  The  main  issues  in 
the  election  which  ensued  were  the  tariff  and  Texas  an- 
nexation. Polk  received  170  electoral  votes,  against  105 


368        THE  PARTY'S  LEADERS  AND  PRINCIPLES. 

received  by  Clay.  The  "  American  Party"  first  made  its 
appearance  after  Mr.  Folk's  inauguration.  It  should  be 
here  noted  that  the  Ashburton  treaty  of  184:2  regarding 
the  boundary-line  of  the  country  on  the  Columbia  River 
in  Oregon  had  been  considered  in  the  Democratic  Con- 
vention of  1844,  which  in  its  platform  declared  for  the 
54-  degrees  4:0  minutes  dividing  line,  and  the  54-40  prin- 
ciple became  the  cry  of  the  campaign.  The  war  with 
Mexico  was  the  principal  event  of  President  Polk's  ad- 
ministration. 

In  1848  Zachary  Taylor,  the  Whig  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent, received  163  electoral  votes,  and  Lewis  Cass,  his 
opponent  on  the  Democratic  ticket,  127.  The  Demo- 
cratic Convention  at  Baltimore  at  which  Cass  was  nomi- 
nated declared  that  "  no  more  revenue  ought  to  be  raised 
than  is  required  to  defray  the  necessary  expenses  of  the 
Government,  and  for  the  gradual  but  certain  extinction 
of  the  debt  created  by  the  prosecution  of  a  just  and  nec- 
essary war." 

The  Presidential  election  of  1852  was  the  last  campaign 
in  which  the  Whig  Party  appeared  in  national  politics, 
and  resulted  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Fillmore  by  254  elec- 
tral  votes  to  42  for  General  Scott. 

THE   TARIFF    QUESTION    IN    EARLY    YEARS. 

In  1823  Henry  Clay  said  the  United  States  was  grow- 
ing poor  through  want  of  a  manufacturing  system. 


THE  PARTY'S  LEADERS  AND  PRINCIPLES.         369 

Daniel  Webster  opposed  the  protective  system.  He 
said  the  age  in  which  he  lived  demanded  no  prohibition, 
and  that  competition  was  far  better  than  monopoly.  Mr. 
Webster,  however,  so  modified  his  views  as  to  support 
the  tariff  bill  of  1828. 

After  the  close  of  the  war  of  1812  John  C.  Calhoun 
introduced  a  tariff  bill  to  apply  to  cotton  goods. 

Thomas  Benton  in  1828  advocated  protection. 

In  1832  Clay  delivered  a  three  days'  speech  in  support 
of  the  American  system. 

When  Mr.  Hayne  of  South  Carolina  threatened  that  a 
tariff  bill  would  lead  to  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  Clay 
inquired  :  "  What  would  be  the  condition  of  the  Union  if 
Pennsylvania  and  New  York  were  firmly  persuaded  that 
their  industry  was  paralyzed  and  their  prosperity  blighted 
by  the  enforcement  of  the  British  colonial  system  under 
the  delusive  name  of  Free  Trade?" 


THE   LAST   DEMOCRATIC   PRESIDENT. 

James  Buchanan  received  174  of  the  electoral  votes  of 
1856,  against  129  received  by  Fremont,  and  the  doctrines 
of  the  platform  upon  which  he  was  elected,  like  those  of 
the  platform  upon  which  Samuel  J.  Tilden  stood  in 
1876,  reappear  in  the  Democratic  platform  of  1884. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 


THE   CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 
AND  ITS  HISTORY. 

Preliminaries  to  the  Struggle  for  Independence. — Tho  Convention 
of  1765.— Articles  of  Confederation.— The  "Declaration  of  Rights" 
and  other  Papers. — The  Continental  Congress. — Work  of  the  Com- 
mittee <if  Five. — The  Iie;:inniiig  of  the  War. — Minute-men. — "\Yasli- 
ington's  Statesmanship. — Formation  of  the  Constitution. — Opposi- 
tion to  its  Adoption. — The  Bulwark  of  the  Republic. — Text  of  the 
Constitution. — Views  of  the  Statesmen  Concerning  it. — Amendments 
and  Their  History. — How  the  Amendments  were  Ratified. 

In  tlio  middle  of  the  last  century  the  acts  of  oppression 
on  the  part  of  Great  Britain  towards  the  American 
colonies  became  so  numerous  as  to  excite  general  indig- 
nation. Public  meetings  were  held  to  denounce  the 
conduct  of  the  mother  country,  organizations  of  "  Sons 
of  Liberty"  were  formed  throughout  the  colonies,  the 
popular  sentiment  was  displayed  in  various  ways,  and- 
when  on  the  first  of  November,  1765,  the  odious  Stamp 
Act  was  to  take  effect  there  were  no  officials  bold  enough 
to  execute  the  laws.  The  stamps  were  seized  and  burned 

(370) 


CONSTITUTION   OP  THE   UNITED   STATES.  371 

on  their  arrival,  the  distributors  were  openly  insulted, 
and  it  was  determined  to  celebrate  the  first  of  November 
as  a  day  of  Humiliation. 

There  was  a  general  desire  for  united  action  among 
the  colonies,  and  a  convention  or  congress  was  proposed. 
Several  colonies  appointed  delegates  who  met  in  New- 
York  on  the  7th  of  October,  1765,  and  remained  in 
session  fourteen  days.  Their  deliberations  resulted  in 
three  ably-written  documents  in  which  were  set  forth 
the  grievances  of  the  colonists  and  the  rights  they 
claimed,  together  with  a  petition  that  the  king  and 
parliament  would  redress  the  former  and  acknowledge 
the  latter.  The  first  paper  was  A  Declaration  of  Rights 
prepared  by  John  Cruger  of  New  York,  the  second  A 
Memorial  to  Both  Houses  of  Parliament  by  Robert  R. 
Livingston  of  New  York,  and  the  third  and  last  was 
A  Petition  to  the  King  by  James  Otis  of  Massachusetts. 

The  government  of  Great  Britain  refused  all  applica- 
tion for  a  redress  of  the  grievances  of  the  colonies. 
Troops  were  sent  to  awe  the  people  into  subjection,  and 
not  only  were  the  odious  laws  enforced,  but  additional 
ones  were  enacted.  The  assemblies  of  New  York  and 
Massachusetts  refused  shelter  and  food  for  the  troops 
that  were  quartered  upon  them,  and  this  led  to  open 
collisions ;  then  followed  many  acts  of  insubordination, 
prominent  among  them  being  the  famous  "  Boston  Tea- 
Party  ",  and  the  consequent  closing  of  the  port  when  the 
act  occurred. 


372  CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 

Another  Congress  was  summoned  and  met  in  Phila- 
delphia on  the  5th  of  September,  1774.  Ir  was  known 
as  the  FIRST  CONTINECTAL  CONGRESS,  and  included  dele- 
gates from  all  the  colonies  except  Georgia.  Again  were 
the  grievances  of  the  people  set  forth,  and  with  the 
same  result  as  before.  The  Congress  adjourned  to  meet 
on  the  10th  of  the  following  May,  and  there  was  a 
universal  feeling  that  if  Great  Britain  continued  stubborn 
war  would  be  inevitable. 

Before  Congress  met  again,  pursuant  to  adjournment, 
it  became  known  that  the  requests  of  the  colonists  had 
been  refused,  and  preparations  were  made  for  the 
impending  hostilities.  Military  companies  and  regi- 
ments were  organized,  men  were  drilled  in  exercises 
with  weapons  of  war;  the  manufacture  of  arms,  ammu- 
nition, and  military  equipments  was  encouraged,  and 
especially  in  the  New  England  States  the  citizens  were 
enrolled  in  companies  prepared  to  go  to  the  field  at  a 
moment's  warning.  For  this  reason  they  were  known 
as  minute-men;  their  organization  was  encouraged  by 
their  wives  and  daughters,  who  assisted  in  the  prepara- 
tions. It  was  said  that  in  Massachusetts  alone  thirty 
thousand  men  were  ready  to  go  to  the  field  whenever 
wanted. 

The  war  came  with  all  its  horrors.  The  far-seeing 
leaders  recognized  the  necessity  of  a  unity  of  action 
among  the  colonies,  and  for  this  purpose  "Articles  of 
Confederation"  were  prepared ;  the  outline  of  these 


CONSTITUTION   OP  THE   UNITED   STATES.  373 

articles  was  submitted  to  the  Continental  Congress  in 
July,  1775,  by  Dr.  Franklin,  with  the  suggestion  that 
they  should  cease  to  be  in  force  as  soon  as  there  was  a 
reconciliation  between  Great  Britain  and  the  colonies, 
but  in  the  failure  of  such  reconciliation  their  action 
should  be  perpetual. 

No  decisive  action  was  taken  until  the  following  year, 
when  a  declaration  of  independence  became  necessary. 

On  the  llth  of  June,  1776,  Congress  resolved  that  a 
committee  should  be  appointed,  to  consist  of  one  dele- 
gate from  each  state,  to  draft  and  digest  articles  of 
confederation  by  which  all  the  colonies  should  be  bound 
and  controlled  during  the  period  of  war.  A  draft  was 
reported  on  the  12th  of  July  of  the  same  year. 

The  articles  of  confederation  were  discussed  for  a 
month  or  more,  and  were  then  laid  aside  until  April, 
1777.  In  the  meantime  several  of  the  states  had  formed 
their  constitutions  and  practically  acknowledged  Con- 
gress to  be  the  supreme  head  of  affairs  in  war,  finance, 
etc.  From  April  until  November  the  articles  were 
discussed,  and  on  the  15th  of  the  latter  month  they 
were  adopted  and  submitted  to  the  States  for  ratification. 
Some  of  the  State  legislatures  made  objections,  and  the 
final  adoption  did  not  take  place  until  four  years  and 
four  months  after  the  draft  had  been  submitted.  These 
articles  of  confederation  formed  the  basis  of  the  CON- 
STITUTION OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  and  remained  in  force 
until  after  the  end  of  the  Revolution,  the  signing  of  the 


374  CONSTITUTION    OP  THE   UNITED   STATIC. 

treaty  of  peace,  and  the  evacuation  of  the  country  by 
the  British  army. 

It  was  proposed  by  some  of  the  statesmen  of  that  time 
that  the  articles  of  confederation  should  be  continued, 
and  form  the  constitution  of  the  nation.  This  was  op- 
posed on  account  of  several  daring  defects  that  had  be- 
come manifest  during  the  progress  of  the  war.  General 
Washington  was  one  the  first  to  see  the  necessity  of  a 
BOW  organization,  and  at  his  suggestion  a  convention  was 
called  for  the  purpose  of  consulting  on  the  best  means  of 
remedying  the  evil  then  existing.  This  convention  as- 
sembled at  Annapolis,  Maryland,  in  September,  178G, 
but  only  five  States,  Virginia,  Delaware,  Pennsylvania, 
New  Jersey,  and  New  York,  had  sent  delegates.  Owing 
to  the  small  representation  no  action  was  taken  beyond 
suggesting  the  appointment  of  delegates  to  a  larger  con- 
vention in  the  following  year. 

The  report  was  sent  to  Congress,  and  in  February  1787, 
that  body  passed  a  resolution  recommending  the  legis- 
latures to  appoint  delegates  to  a  constitutional  conven- 
tion which  should  meet  on  the  second  Monday  in  May  of 
that  year.  The  proposal  met  with  favor,  and  at  the  t  ime 
nated  the  convention  assembled,  all  the  States  being 
represented  except  New  Hampshire  and  Rhode  Island. 
Various  plans  were  proposed,  and  after  long  and  some- 
times angry  debates  the  convention  referred  all  reports, 
propositions,  and  resolutions  to  a  committee  of  five.  Ten 


CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED    STATES.  375 

days  later  this  committee  reported  a  rough  draft  of  the 
instrument  by  which  the  country  should  be  governed  for 
the  future. 

More  debates  followed,  and  then  the  draft  of  the  Con- 
stitution was  referred  to  the  various  legislatures  with  the 
request  that  it  be  submitted  to  a  convention  of  delegates 
from  all  the  States.  It  was  vigorously  supported  by 
many  of  the  great  minds  of  the  day,  and  as  vigorously 
opposed  by  others.  Eleven  States  assembled  in  conven- 
tion, and  supported  and  ratified  the  new  Constitution ; 
Congress  then  fixed  the  time  for  choosing  electors  for 
President  and  Vice-President,  and  provided  for  the  or- 
ganization of  the  new  government.  The  old  CONTINEN- 
TAL CONGRESS  expired  on  the  fourth  of  March,  1789,  and 
the  National  Constitution  became  the  basis  on  which 
should  rest  the  great  Republic  of  the  Western  World. 

Thus  was  crowned  the  glorious  work  of  the  War  for 
Independence,  and  thus  was  begun  the  magnificent  career 
of  one  of  the  foremost  nations  of  the  globe. 

THE   NATIONAL    CONSTITUTION. 

We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a  more 
perfect  Union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquility,  pro- 
vide for  the  common  defence,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and 
secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  do 
ordain  and  establish  this  CONSTITUTION  for  the  United  States  of 
America. 

ARTICLE   I. 

SECTION  1.  All  the  legislative  powers  herein  granted  shall  be 
vested  in  a  Congress  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  consist  of 
a  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives. 


876  CONSTITUTION   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES. 

SEC.  2.     The  House  of  Representatives  shall  be  composed  of 

members  chosen  every  second  year  by  the  people  of  the  several 

.  and  tin:  elector-  in  each   Slate  shall  have  the  qualifications 

requisite   for  electors  of  the  most  numerous  brunch  of  the  State 

Mature. 

No  person  shall  be  a  Representative  who  shall  not  have  attained 
the  age  of  twenty-live  years,  and  been  seven  \ears  a  ehi/.en  of  the 
United  States,  and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  inhabitant 
of  that  State  in  which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

Representative-;  and  direct  taxes  shall  bo  {.^portioned  among  the 
several  liich  may  be  included  within  tnis  I'nion,  according 

to  their  respective  numbers,  which  shall  be  determined  by  adding 
to  the  whole  number  of  free  persons,  including  those  bound  to  ser- 
vice for  a  term  of  \ears.  and  excluding  Indians  not  taxed,  three-fifths 
of  all  other  persons.  The  actual  enumeration  shall  be  made  within 
three  years  after  the  first  meeting  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  and  within. every  subsequent  term  of  ten  years,  in  such 
manner  a-  they  shall  by  law  direct.  The  number  of  Representatives 
shall  not  exceed  one  for  every  thirty  thousand;  but  each  State 
shall  have  at  least  one  Representative:  and  until  such  enumeration 
shall  be  made,  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  shall  be  entitled  to 
choose  three.  M  i--aehu-.-n-  c'lLrht,  Rhode  Island  and  Providence 
Plantations  one,  Connecticut  live,  New  York  six.  New  Jersey  four, 
Pennsylvania  eight,  Delaware  one.  Maryland  six,  Virginia  ten, 
North  Carolina  live.  South  Carolina  five,  and  Georgia  three. 

When  vacancies  happen  in  the  representation  from  any  State, 
the  executive  authority  thereof  .-hall  issue  ivrits  of  election  to  fill 
such  vacancies. 

The  House  of  Representatives  shall  choose  their  Speaker  and 
other  officers;  and  shall  have  the  sole  power  of  impeachment. 

3.  The  Senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  composed  of 
two  Senators  from  each  State,  chosen  by  the  legislature  thereof,  for 
six  years;  and  each  Senator  shall  have  one  vote. 

Immediately  after  they  shall  be  assembled  in  consequence  of  the 
first  election,  they  shall  be  divided  as  equally  as  may  be  into  three 
!.     The  seats  of  the  Senators  of  the  first  class  shall  be  va- 
cated at  the  expiration  of  the  second  year,  of  the  second  class  at 


CONSTITUTION   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES.  377 

the  expiration  of  the  fourth  year,  and  of  the  third  class  at  the  ex- 
piration of  the  sixth  year,  so  that  one-third  may  be  chosen  every 
second  year ;  and  if  vacancies  happen  by  resignation  or  otherwise, 
during  the  recess  of  the  legislature  of  any  State,  the  executive 
thereof  may  make  temporary  appointments  until  the  next  meeting 
of  the  legislature,  which  shall  then  fill  such  vacancies. 

No  person  shall  be  a  Senator  who  shall  not  have  attained  to  the 
age  of  thirty  years,  and  been  nine  years  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  inhabitant  for  that 
State  for  which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

The  Vice-President  of  the  United  States  shall  be  President  of 
the  Senate,  but  shall  have  no  vote,  unless  they  be  equally  divided. 

The  Senate  shall  choose  their  other  officers,  and  also  a  president 
pro  tempore,  in  the  absence  of  the  Vice-President,  or  when  he  shall 
exercise  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States. 

The  Senate  shall  have  the  sole  power  to  try  all  impeachments: 
when  sitting  for  that  purpose,  they  shall  be  on  oath,  or  affirma- 
tion. When  the  President  of  the  United  States  is  tried,  the  Chief 
Justice  shall  preside ;  and  no  person  shall  be  convicted  without  the 
concurrence  of  two-thirds  of  the  members  present. 

Judgment  in  cases  of  impeachment  shall  not  extend  further  than 
to  removal  from  office,  and  disqualification  to  hold  and  enjoy  any 
office  of  honor,  trust  or  profit  under  the  United  States :  but  the 
party  convicted  shall  nevertheless  be  liable  and  subject  to  indict- 
ment, trial,  judgment,  and  punishment,  according  to  law. 

SEC.  4.  The  times,  places,  and  manner  of  holding  elections  for 
Senators  and  Representatives,  shall  be  prescribed  in  each  State  by 
the  legislature  thereof;  but  the  Congress  may  at  any  time  by  law 
make  or  alter  such  regulations,  except  as  to  the  places  of  choosing 
Senators. 

The  Congress  shall  assemble  at  least  once  in  every  year,  and  such 
meeting  shall  be  on  the  first  Monday  in  December,  unless  they 
shall  by  law  appoint  a  different  day. 

SEC.  5.  Each  house  shall  be  the  judge  of  the  elections,  returns, 
and  qualifications  of  its  own  members,  r.nd  a  majority  of  each  shall 
constitute  a  quorum  to  do  business ;  but  a  smaller  number  may  ad- 
journ from  day  to  day,  and  may  be  authorized  to  compel  the  at- 


378  CONSTITUTION    OF   THE   UNITED   STATES. 

tendance  of  absent  members,  in  such  manner  and  under  such 
penalties  as  each  house  may  provide. 

Each  house  may  determine  the  rules  of  its  proceedings,  punish 
its  members  for  disorderly  behavior,  and,  with  the  concurrence  of 
two-thirds,  expel  a  member. 

Each  house  shall  keep  a  journal  of  its  proceedings,  and  from 
time  to  time  publish  the  same,  excepting  such  parts  as  may  in  their 
judgment  require  secresy ;  and  the  yeas  and  nays  of  the.  members 
of  cither  house  on  any  question  shall,  at  the  desire  of  one-fifth  of 
those  present,  be  entered  on  the  journal. 

Neither  house,  during  the  session  of  Congress,  shall,  without 
the  consent  of  the  other,  adjourn  for  more  than  three  days,  nor 
to  any  other  place  than  that  in  which  the  two  houses  may  be 
sittting. 

SEC.  6.  The  Senators  and  Representative  -hall  receive  a  com- 
pensation for  their  services,  to  be  aseertaini  <!  by  law,  and  paid  out 
of  the  trea>ury  of  the  United  States.  They  shall  in  all  cases,  ex- 
cept treason,  felony,  and  breach  of  the  peace,  be  privileged  from 
:irre>t  durinir  'heir  attendance  at  the  session  of  their  respective 
houses,  and  in  going  to  and  returning  from  the  same;  and  for  any 
speech  or  debate  in  either  house,  they  shall  not  be  questioned  in 
any  other  place. 

No  Senator  or  Representative  shall,  during  the  time  for  which 
he  was  elected,  be  appointed  to  any  civil  otliee  under  the  authority 
of  the  United  Stall's,  which  shall  have  been  created,  or  the  emolu- 
ments whereof  shall  have  been  increased  during  such  time;  and  no 
person  holding  any  office  under  the  United  State-  shall  be  a  mem- 
ber of  cither  house  during  his  continuance  in  oflice. 

SEC.  7.  All  bills  for  raising  revenue  shall  originate  in  the  House 
of  Representatives;  but  the  Senate  may  propose  or  concur  with 
amendments  as  on  other  bills. 

Kvery  bill  which  shall  have  parsed  the  House  of  Representatives 
and  the  Senate,  shall,  before  it  becomes  a  law,  be  presented  to  the 
Pre>i(lent  of  the  United  States:  if  he  approve  he  shall  sign  it.  but 
if  not,  he  shall  return  it,  witli  his  objections,  to  that  house  in 
which  it  shall  have  originated,  which  shall  enter  the  objections  at 
large  on  their  journal,  and  proceed  to  reconsider  it.  If,  after  such 


CONSTITUTION   OP   THE   UNITED   STATES.  379 

reconsideration,  two-thirds  of  that  house  shall  agree  to  pass  the 
bill,  it  shall  be  sent,  together  with  the  objections,  to  the  other 
house,  by  which  it  shall  likewise  be  reconsidered,  and  if  approved 
by  two-thirds  of  that  house,  it  shall  become  a  law.  But  in  all  such 
cases  the  votes  of  both  houses  shall  be  determined  by  yeas  and 
nays,  and  the  names  of  the  persons  voting  for  and  against  the  bill 
shall  be  entered  on  the  journal  of  each  house  respectively.  If  any 
bill  shall  not  be  returned  by  the  President  within  ten  days  (Sunday 
excepted)  after  it  shall  have  been  presented  to  him,  the  same  shall 
be  a  law,  in  like  manner  as  if  he  had  signed  it.  unless  the  Congress 
by  their  adjournment  prevent  its  return,  in  which  case  it  shall  not 
be  a  law. 

Every  order,  resolution,  or  vote  to  which  the  concurrence  of  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  may  be.  necessary  (except  on 
a  question  of  adjournment),  shall  be  presented  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States;  and  before  the  same  shall  take  effect,  shall  be 
approved  by  him,  or  being  disapproved  by  him,  shall  be  repassed 
by  two-thirds  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  accord- 
ing to  the  rules  and  limitations  prescribed  in  the  case  of  a  bill. 

SEC.  8.     The  Congress  shall  have  power — 

To  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises ;  to  pay  the 
debts  and  provide  for  the  common  defense  and  general  welfare  of 
the  United  States;  but  all  duties,  imposts,  and  excises  shall  be 
uniform  throughout  the  United  States; 

To  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States ; 

To  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among  the  sev- 
eral States,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes ; 

To  establish  an  uniform  rule  of  naturalization,  and  uniform  laws 
on  the  subject  of  bankruptcies  throughout  the  United  States ; 

To  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof,  and  of  foreign  coin, 
and  fix  the  standard  of  weights  and  measures ; 

To  provide  for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  securities 
and  current  coin  of  the  United  States; 

To  establish  post-offices  and  post-roads ; 

To  promote  the  progress  of  science  and  useful  arts,  by  securing 
for  limited  times  to  authors  and  inventors  the  exclusive  right  to 
their  respective  writings  and  discoveries ; 


3SO  CONSTITUTION    OF  THE   UNITED   STATES. 

To  constitute  tribunals  inferior  to  the  Supreme  Court ; 

To  define  and  punish  piracies  and  felonies  committed  on  the  high 
md  offenses  against  the  law  of  nations; 

To  declare  war,  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  and  make 
rules  concerning  captures  on  land  and  \\ater; 

To  raise  and  support  armies;  hut  no  appropriation  of  money  to 
that  use  shall  be  for  a  longer  term  than  two  years; 

To  provide  and  maintain  a  navy; 

To  make  rules  for  the  government  and  regulation  of  the  land  and 
naval  forces; 

To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the  laws  of 
the  Union,  suppress  insurrection,  and  repel  invasions; 

To  provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and  disciplining  the  militia, 
and  for  governing  such  part  of  them  as  may  be  employed  in  the 
service  of  the  United  Stati-s— reserving  to  the  States,  re-pectively, 
the  appointment  of  the  officers,  and  the  authority  of  training  the 
militia  according  to  the  discipline  prescribed  by  Congr. 

To  exercise  exclusive  legislation  in  all  eases  whatsoever  over  such 
district  (not  exceeding  ten  miles  square)  as  may,  by  cession  of  par- 
ticular States,  and  the  acceptance  of  Congress,  become  the  seat  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  to  exercise  like  authority 
over  all  places  purchased  by  the  consent  of  the  legislature  of  the 
State  in  which  the  ^inie  shall  be,  for  the  erection  of  forts,  maga- 
zines, arsenals,  dockyards,  and  other  needful  buildings; — and 

To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carry- 
ing into  execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  other  powers 
vested  by  this  Constitution  in  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
or  in  any  department  or  officer  thereof. 

SEC.  9.  The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  any  of 
the  States  now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be 
prohibited  by  the  Congress  prior  to  the  year  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  eight,  but  a  tax  or  duty  may  be  imposed  on  such  im- 
portation, not  exceeding  ten  dollars  for  each  person. 

The  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  suspended, 
unless  when  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion  the  public  safety  may 
require  it. 

No  bill  of  attainder  or  ex  post  facto  shall  be  passed. 


CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES.  381 

No  capitation,  or  other  direct  tax  shall  be  laid,  unless  in  pro- 
portion to  the  census  or  enumeration  herein  before  directed  to  be 
taken. 

No  tax  or  duty  shall  be  laid  on  articles  exported  from  any  State. 

No  preference  shall  be  given  by  any  regulation  of  commerce  or 
revenue  to  the  ports  of  one  State  over  those  of  another ;  nor  shall 
vessels  bound  to,  or  from,  one  State,  be  obliged  to  enter,  clear,  or 
pay  duties  in  another. 

No  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  treasury,  but  in  consequence 
of  appropriations  made  by  law ;  and  a  regular  statement  and  account 
of  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  all  public  money  shall  be  pub- 
lished from  time  to  time. 

No  title  of  nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the  United  States :  and 
no  person  holding  any  office  of  profit  or  trust  under  them,  shall, 
without  the  consent  of  Congress,  accept  of  any  present,  emolu- 
ment, office,  or  title,  of  any  kind  whatever,  from  any  king,  prince, 
or  foreign  state. 

SEC.  10.  No  State  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  alliance,  or  con- 
federation ;  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal ;  coin  money ;  emit 
bills  of  credit ;  make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in 
payment  of  debts ;  pass  any  bill  of  attainder,  ex  post  facto  law,  or 
law  impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts,  or  grant  any  title  of 
nobility. 

No  State  shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  Congress,  lay  any  im- 
posts or  duties  on  imports  or  exports,  except  what  may  be  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  executing  its  inspection  laws:  and  the  net 
^produce  of  all  duties  and  imposts,  laid  by  any  State  on  imports  or 
exports,  shall  be  for  the  use  of  the  treasury  of  the  United  States; 
and  all  such  laws  shall  be  subject  to  the  revision  and  control  of  the 
Congress. 

No  State  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Congress,  lay  any  duty  of 
tonnage,  keep  troops,  or  ships-of-war  in  time  of  peace,  enter  into 
any  agreement  or  compact  with  another  State,  or  with  a  foreign 
power,  or  engage  in  war,  unless  actually  invaded,  or  in  such  emi- 
nent danger  as  will  not  admit  of  delay. 


382  CONSTITUTION   OP  THE  UNITED   STATES. 

ARTICLE   II. 

SECTION  1.  The  executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  a  President 
of  the  United  States  of  America.  He  shall  hold  his  office  during 
the  term  of  four  years,  and  together  with  the  Vice-President,  chosen 
for  the  same  term,  be  elected  as  follows : 

Each  State  shall  appoint  in  such  manner  as  the  legislature  there- 
of may  direct,  a  number  of  electors,  equal  to  the  whole  number  of 
Senators  and  Representatives  to  which  the  State  may  be  entitled 
in  the  Congress :  but  no  Senator  or  Representative,  or  person  hold- 
ing an  office  of  trust  or  profit  under  the  United  States,  shall  be 
appointed  an  elector. 

[The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  States,  and  vote  by 
ballot  for  two  persons,  of  whom  one  at  least  shall  not  be  an  inhab- 
itant of  the  same  State  with  themselves.  And  they  shall  make  a 
list  of  all  the  persons  voted  for,  and  of  the  number  of  vote-  fur 
each;  which  list  they  shall  sign  and  certify,  and  transmit  sealed  to 
the  seat  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  directed  t<>  the 
President  of  the  Senate.  The  President  of  the  Senate  shall,  in 
the  presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  open  all 
the  certificates,  and  the  votes  shall  then  be  counted.  The  | 
having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  shall  be  the  President,  if  such 
number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  electors  appointed; 
and  if  there  be  more  than  one  who  have  such  majority,  and  have 
an  equal  number  of  votes,  then  the  House  of  Representatives  shall 
immediately  choose  by  ballot  one  of  them  for  President ;  and  if  no 
person  have  a  majority,  then  from  the  five  highest  on  the  list  the 
said  house  shall  in  like  manner  choose  the  President.  But  in 
choosing  the  President,  the  votes  shall  be  taken  by  States — the 
representation  from  each  State  having  one  vote;  a  quorum  for  this 
purpose  shall  consist  of  a  member  or  members  from  two-thirds  of 
the  States,  and  a  majority  of  all  the  States  shall  be  necessary  to  a 
choice.  In  every  case,  after  the  choice  of  the  President,  the  per- 
son having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  of  the  electors  shall  he 
the  Vice-President.  But  if  there  should  remain  two  or  more  who 
have  equal  votes,  the  Senate  shall  choose  from  them  by  ballot  the 
Vice-President.] 

The  Congress  may  determine  the  time  of  choosing  the  electors, 


CONSTITUTION   OP   THE   UNITED   STATES.  383 

and  the  day  on  which  they  shall  give  their  votes ;  which  day  shall 
be  the  same  throughout  the  United  States. 

No  person  except  a  natural  born  citizen,  or  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  this  constitution,  shall 
be  eligible  to  the  office  of  President ;  neither  shall  any  person  be 
eligible  to  that  office  who  shall  not  have  attained  to  the  age  of 
thirty-five  years,  and  been  fourteen  years  a  resident  within  the 
United  States. 

In  case  of  the  removal  of  the  President  from  office,  or  of  his  i 
death,  resignation,  or  inability  to  discharge  the  powers  and  duties 
of  the  said  office,  the  same  shall  devolve  on  the  Vice-President,  and 
the  Congress  may  by  law  provide  for  the  case  of  removal,  death, 
resignation  or  inability,  both  of  the  President  and  Vice-President, 
declaring  what  officer  shall  then  act  as  President,  and  such  officer 
shall  act  accordingly,  until  the  disability  be  removed,  or  a  Presi- 
dent shall  be  elected. 

The  President  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  for  his  services,  a 
compensation,  which  shall  neither  be  increased  nor  diminished 
during  the  period  for  which  he  shall  have  been  elected,  and  he 
shall  not  receive  within  that  period  any  other  emolument  from  the 
United  States,  or  any  of  them. 

Before  he  enter  on  the  execution  of  his  office,  he  shall  take  the 
following  oath  of  affirmation: 

"  I  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that  I  will  faithfully  execute 
the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  and  will  to  the  best 
of  my  ability,  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States." 

SEC.  2.  The  President  shall  be  commander  in  chief  of  the 
Army  and  Navy  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  Militia  of  the 
several  States,  when  called  into  the  actual  service  of  the  United 
States;  he  may  require  the  opinion,  in  writing,  of  the  principal 
officer  in  each  of  the  executive  departments,  upon  any  subject 
relating  to  the  duties  of  their  respective  offices,  and  he  shall  have 
power  to  grant  reprieves  and  pardons  for  offences  against  the 
United  States,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment. 

He  shall  have  power  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate,  to  make  treaties,  provided  two-thirds  of  the  Senators 


384  CONSTITUTION   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES. 

present  concur;  and  he  shall  nominate,  and  by  and  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  Senate,  shall  appoint  Ambassadors,  other  public 
Ministers  and  Consuls,  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  all  other 
officers  of  the  United  States,  whose  appointments  are  not  herein 
hitherto  provided  for,  and  which  shall  be  established  by  law;  hut 
the  Congress  may  by  law  vest  the  appointment  of  such  inferior 
officers,  as  they  think  proper,  in  the  President  alone,  in  the  courts 
of  law,  or  in  the  heads  of  departments. 

The  President  shall  have  power  to  fill  up  all  vacancies  that  may 
happen  during  the  recess  of  the  Senate,  by  granting  Commissions 
which  shall  expire  at  the  end  of  their  next  session. 

SEC.  3.  He  shall  from  time  to  time  give  to  the  congress  infor- 
mation of  the  state  of  the  Union,  and  recommend  to  their  consid- 
eration such  measures  as  he  shall  judge  necessary  and  expedient ; 
he  may,  on  extraordinary  occasions,  convene  both  Houses,  or  cither 
of  them,  and  in  case  of  disagreement  between  them,  with  respect 
to  the  time  of  adjournment,  he  may  adjourn  them  to  such  time  as 
he  shall  think  proper;  he  shall  receive  Ambassadors  and  other  pub- 
lic .Ministers;  he  shall  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed, 
and  shall  commission  all  the  officers  of  the  United  States. 

SEC.  4.  The  President,  Vice-President,  and  all  civil  officers  of 
the  United  States,  shall  be  removed  from  office  on  impeachment 
for,  and  conviction  of,  treason,  bribery,  or  other  high  crimes  or 
misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE     III. 

SECTION  1.  The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  be 
vested  in  one  Supreme  Court,  and  such  inferior  courts  as  the  Con- 
gress may  from  time  to  time  ordain  and  establish.  The  Judges 
both  of  the  Supreme  and  inferior  courts  shall  hold  their  offices 
during  good  behavior,  and  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  for  their 
services  a  compensation  which  shall  not  be  diminished  during  their 
continuance  in  office. 

SEC.  2.  The  judicial  power  shall  extend  to  all  cases,  in  law  and 
equity,  arising  under  this  Constitution,  the  laws  of  the  United 
States,  and  treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made,  under  their 
authority;  to  all  cases  affecting  Ambassadors,  otherpublir  Ministers 
and  Consuls ;  to  all  cases  of  admiralty  and  maritime  Jurisdiction ; 


CONSTITUTION   OP  THE  UNITED   STATES.  385 

to  controversies  to  which  the  United  States  shall  be  a  party;  to 
controversies  between  two  or  more  States ;  between  a  State  and 
citizen  of  another  State;  between  Citizens  of  different  States; 
between  citizens  of  the  same  State  claiming  lands  under  grants  of 
different  States,  and  between  a  State  or  the  citizens  thereof,  and 
foreign  States,  citizens  or  subjects. 

In  all  cases  affecting  Ambassadors,  other  public  Ministers  and 
Consuls,  those  in  which  a  State  shall  be  a  party,  the  Supreme 
Court  shall  have  original  jurisdiction.  In  all  the  other  cases  before 
mentioned,  the  Supreme  Court  shall  have  appellate  jurisdiction, 
both  as  to  law  and  fact,  with  such  exceptions,  and  under  such  reg- 
ulations as  the  Congress  shall  make. 

The  trial  of  all  crimes,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment,  shall  be 
by  jury ;  and  such  trial  shall  be  held  in  the  State  where  the  said 
crimes  shall  have  been  committed ;  but  when  not  committed  within 
any  State,  the  trial  shall  be  at  such  place  or  places  as  the  Congress 
may  by  law  have  directed. 

SEC.  3.  Treason  against  the  United  States  shall  consist  only  in 
levying  war  against  them,  or  in  adhering  to  their  enemies,  giving 
them  aid  and  comfort. 

No  person  shall  be  convicted  of  treason,  unless  on  the  testimony 
of  two  witnesses  to  the  same  overt  act,  or  on  confession  in  open 
court. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  declare  the  punishment  of 
treason,  but  no  attainder  of  treason  shall  work  corruption  of  blood, 
or  forfeiture,  except  during  the  life  of  the  person  attainted. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

SECTION  1.  Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given  in  each  State  to 
the  public  acts,  records,  and  judicial  proceedings  of  every  other 
State.  And  the  Congress  may  by  general  laws  prescribe  the  manner 
in  which  such  acts,  records,  and  proceedings  shall  be  proved,  and 
the  effect  thereof. 

SEC.  2.  The  citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  privi- 
leges and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  States. 

A  person  charged  in  any  State  with  treason,  felony,  or  other 
crime,  who  shall  flee  from  justice,  and  be  found  in  another  State, 


386  CONSTITUTION  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

shall  on  demand  of  the  executive  authority  of  the  State  from 
which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up,  to  be  removed  to  the  State  having 
jurisdiction  of  the  crime. 

No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  State,  under  the  laws 
thereof  escaping  to  another,  shall,  in  consequence  of  any  law  or 
regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service  or  labor,  but 
shall  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service 
or  labor  may  be  due. 

SEC.  8.  New  States  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress  into  this 
Union;  but  no  new  State  shall  be  formed  or  erected  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  any  other  State ;  nor  any  State  be  formed  by  the 
junction  of  two  or  more  States,  or  parts  of  States,  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  Legislatures  of  the  States  concerned  as  well  as  of  the 
Congress. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of  and  make  all  need- 
ful rules  and  regulations  respecting  the  Territory  or  other  property 
belonging  to  the  United  States;  and  nothing  in  this  Constitution 
shall  be  so  construed  as  to  prejudice  any  claims  of  the  United 
States,  or  of  any  particular  State. 

SEC.  4.  The  Constitution  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  the 
Union  a  Republican  form  of  Government,  and  shall  protect  each 
of  them  against  invasion ;  and  on  application  of  the  Legislature, 
or  of  the  executive  (when  the  Legislature  can  not  be  convened) 
against  domestic  violence. 

ARTICLE  v. 

The  Congress,  whenever  two-thirds  of  both  Houses  shall  deem 
it  necessary,  shall  propose  amendments  to  this  Constitution,  or,  on 
the  application  of  the  Legislature  of  two-thirds  of  the  several 
States,  shall  call  a  convention  for  proposing  amendments,  which, 
in  either  case,  shall  be  valid  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  part  of 
this  Constitution,  when  ratified  by  the  Legislatures  of  three-fourths 
of  the  several  States,  or  by  conventions  in  three-fourths  thereof,  as 
the  one  or  the  other  mode  of  ratification  may  be  proposed  by  the 
Congress;  provided  that  no  amendment  which  may  be  made  prior 
to  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight  shall  in  any 
manner  affect  the  first  and  fourth  clauses  in  the  ninth  section  of 


CONSTITUTION   OF  THE  UNITED   STATES.  387 

the  first  article ;  and  that  no  State,  without  its  consent,  shall  be 
deprived  of  its  equal  suffrage  in  the  Senate. 

ARTICLE   VI. 

All  debts  contracted  and  engagements  entered  into,  before  the 
adoption  of  this  Constitution,  shall  be  valid  against  the  United 
States  under  this  Constitution,  as  under  the  Confederation. 

This  Constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  which 
shall  be  made  in  pursuance  thereof;  and  all  treaties  made,  or 
which  shall  be  made,  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States, 
shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land ;  and  the  judges  in  every 
State  shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything  in  the  constitution  or  laws 
of  any  State  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

The  senators  and  representatives  before  mentioned,  and  the 
members  of  the  several  State  Legislatures,  and  all  executive  and 
judicial  officers,  both  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several 
States,  shall  be  bound  by  oath  or  affirmation,  to  support  this 
Constitution;  but  no  religious  test  shall  ever  be  required  as  a 
qualification  to  any  office  or  public  trust  under  the  United  States. 

ARTICLE  vn. 

The  ratification  of  the  conventions  of  nine  States  shall  be 
sufficient  for  the  establishment  of  this  Constitution  between  the 
States  so  ratifying  the  same. 

Done  in  convention  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  States  present, 
the  seventeenth  day  of  September,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-seven,  and  of  the  independ- 
ence of  the  United  States  the  twelfth.  In  witness  whereof  we 
have  hereunto  subscribed  our  names. 

GEO.  WASHINGTON, 
President,  and  Deputy  from  Virginia. 


388 


CONSTITUTION   OP  THE  UNITED   STATES. 


1TEW   HAMPSHIRE. 

John  Langdon, 
Nicholas  Gihnan. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

Nathaniel  Gorham, 
Ruf  us  King. 


VIRGINIA. 

John  Blair, 
James  Madison,  Jr. 


PENNSYLVANIA. 

Benjamin  Franklin, 
Thomas  Mifflin, 
Robert  Morris, 
George  Clymer, 
Thomas  Fitzsimons, 
Jared  Ingersoll, 
James  Wilson, 
Gouverneur  Morris. 

CONNECTICUT. 

Win.  Samuel  Johnson,          DELAWARE. 
Roger  Sherman.  George  Reed, 

Gunning  Bedford,  Jr.,  J°hn  pledge 
NEW  YORK.          John  Dickinson, 
Alexander  Hamilton.  Richard  Bassett, 
Jacob  Broom. 


NORTH  CAROLINA. 
William  Blount, 
Rirh'd  Dobbs  Spaight, 
Hugh  Williamson. 

SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

Charles  C.  Pinckney, 
Charles  Pinckney, 


Pierce  Butler. 


NEW  JERSEY. 

William  Livingston, 
David  Brearley, 
William  Paterson, 
Jonathan  Dayton. 


GEORGIA. 
William  Few, 
Abraham  Baldwin. 


MARYLAND. 

James  M'Henry, 
Daniel  of  St.  Thomas 

Jenifer, 
Daniel  Carroll. 
Attest:  WILLIAM  JACKSON,  Secretary. 


AMENDMENTS  TO  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

At  the  first  session  of  the  first  Congress  in  New  York,  March, 
1779,  many  amendments  to  the  National  Constitution  -were  pro- 
posed. Congress  submitted  ten  of  them  to  the  legislatures  of  the 
States,  and  they  were  ratified,  in  accordance  with  the  Fifth  Article 
of  the  Constitution,  by  the  end  of  1791.  The  eleventh  amend- 
ment was  proposed  in  1794,  and  ratified  in  1798;  the  twelfth 
amendment  was  proposed  in  1803,  and  ratified  in  the  folio  iring 
year. 

In  1810  Congress  proposed  an  amendment  prohibiting  any 
citizen  of  the  United  States  from  receiving  or  accepting  anj  title 
of  nobility  or  honor,  or  any  present,  pension,  office,  or  emolu  aent 


CONSTITUTION   OP  THE  UNITED   STATES.  389 

of  any  kind  whatever,  from  any  ' '  person,  king,  prince,  or  foreign 
power,"  without  the  consent  of  Congress,  under  penalty  of  dis- 
franchisement  or  ceasing  to  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States. 
This  proposed  amendment  was  never  ratified. 

The  thirteenth  amendment  was  proposed  by  Congress  in  1865, 
and  ratified  in  the  same  year  by  the  requisite  number  of  States. 
The  fourteenth  amendment  was  proposed  in  1866,  and  was  intended 
to  complete  the  work  of  the  thirteenth.  Two  years  later  it  had 
received  the  requisite  number  of  votes  in  its  favor  to  make  it  a 
part  of  the  Constitution. 

The  fifteenth  amendment  was  submitted  to  the  legislatures  of 
the  States  by  resolution  of  Congress  in  February,  1869,  and  ratified 
by  the  necessary  number  of  States  in  the  early  part  of  1870.  One 
State,  New  Jersey,  ratified  it  nearly  a  year  after  the  proclamation 
of  the  Secretary  of  State  announcing  that  it  had  become  a  part  of 
the  Constitution 

AMENDMENTS. 

ARTICLE   I. 

Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of 
religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof ;  or  abridging  the 
freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the  press;  or  the  right  of  the  people 
peaceably  to  assemble,  and  to  petition  the  government  for  a  redress 
of  grievances. 

AKTICLE  n. 

A  well-regulated  militia  being  necessary  to  the  security  of  a  free 
State,  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms  shall  not  be 

infringed. 

ARTICLE  in. 

No  soldier  shall  in  time  of  peace  be  quartered  in  any  house, 
without  the  consent  of  the  owner,  nor  in  tune  of  war,  but  in  a 
manner  to  be  prescribed  by  law. 

ARTICLE   IV. 

The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses, 
papers,  and  effects,  against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures, 
shall  not  be  violated,  and  no  warrants  shall  issue  but  upon  probable 


390  CONSTITUTION   OF  THE  UNITED   STATES. 

cause,  supported  by  oath  or  affirmation,  and  particularly  describing 
the  place  to  be  searched,  and  the  person  or  things  to  be  seized. 

ABTICLE  V. 

No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital,  or  otherwise 
infamous  crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a  grand 
jury,  except  in  cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval  forces,  or  in  the 
militia,  when  in  actual  service  in  time  of  war  or  public  danger; 
nor  shall  any  person  be  subject  for  the  same  offence  to  be  twice 
put  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb;  nor  shall  be  compelled  in  any 
criminal  case  to  be  a  witness  against  himself,  nor  be  deprived  of 
life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due  process  of  law;  nor  shall 
private  property  be  taken  for  public  use,  without  just  compensation. 

AKTICLE  VI. 

In  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right  to 
a  speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  State  and 
district  wherein  the  crime  shall  have  been  committed,  which 
district  shall  have  been  previously  ascertained  by  law,  and  to  be 
informed  of  the  nature  and  cause  of  the  accusation;  to  be  con- 
fronted with  the  witnesses  against  him;  to  have  compulsory 
process  for  obtaining  witnesses  in  his  favor,  and  to  have  the 
assistance  of  counsel  for  his  defense. 

ARTICLE   VII. 

In  suits  at  common  law,  where  the  value  in  controversy  shall 
exceed  twenty  dollars,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  preserved, 
and  no  fact  tried  by  a  jury  shall  be  otherwise  re-examined  in  any 
court  of  the  United  States,  than  according  to  the  rules  of  the 
common  law. 

ARTICLE  vin. 

Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  excessive  fines  imposed, 
nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishments  inflicted. 

ARTICLE   IX. 

The  enumeration,  in  the  Constitution,  of  certain  rights,  shall  not 
be  construed  to  deny  or  disparage  others  retained  by  the  people. 


CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES.  391 

ARTICLE  X. 

The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States,  by  the  Constitu- 
tion, nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States 
respectively,  or  to  the  people. 


ARTICLE   XI. 

The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  not  be  construed 
to  extend  to  any  suit  in  law  or  equity,  commenced  or  prosecuted 
against  one  of  the  United  States  by  citizens  of  another  State,  or 
by  citizens  or  subjects  of  any  foreign  State. 

ARTICLE  xn. 

The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  States,  and  vote  by 
ballot  for  President  and  Vice-President,  one  of  whom,  at  least, 
shaM  not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same  State  with  themselves; 
they  shall  name  in  their  ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  President, 
and  in  distinct  ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  Vice-President,  and 
they  shall  make  distinct  lists  of  all  persons  voted  for  as  President, 
and  of  all  persons  voted  for  as  Vice-President,  and  of  the  number 
of  votes  for  each,  which  lists  they  shall  sign  and  certify,  and 
transmit  sealed  to  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  directed  to  the  President  of  the  Senate ; — The  President  of 
the  Senate  shall,  in  the  presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, open  all  the  certificates  and  the  votes  shall  then  be 
counted; — the  person  having  the  grestest  number  of  votes  for 
President,  shall  be  the  President,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of 
the  whole  number  of  electors  appointed;  and  if  no  person  have 
such  majority,  then  from  the  persons  having  the  highest  numbers, 
not  exceeding  three  on  the  list  of  those  voted  for  as  President, 
the  House  of  Representatives  shall  choose  immediately,  by  ballot, 
the  President.  But  in  choosing  the  President,  the  votes  shall  be 
taken  by  States,  the  representation  from  each  State  having  one 
vote;  a  quorum  for  this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a  member  or 
members  from  two-thirds  of  the  States,  and  a  majority  of  all  the 
States  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  And  if  the  House  of 
Representatives  shall  not  choose  a  President  whenever  the  right  of 


392  CONSTITUTION   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 

choice  shall  devolve  upon  them,  before  the  fourth  day  of  March 
next  following,  then  the  Vice-President  shall  act  as  President,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  death  or  other  constitutional  disability  of  the 
President.  The  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votrs  as 
Vice-President  shall  be  the  Vice-President,  if  such  number  be  a 
majority  of  the  whole  number  of  Electors  appointed,  and  if  no 
person  have  a  majority,  then  from  the  two  highest  numbers  on  the 
list,  the  Senate  shall  choose  the  Vice-President;  a  quorum  for  the 
purpose  shall  consist  of  two-thirds  of  the  whole  number  of 
Senators,  and  a  majority  of  the  number  shall  be  necessary  to  a 
choice.  But  no  person  constitutionally  ineligible  to  the  office  of 
President  shall  be  eligible  to  that  of  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States. 

ARTICLE   XIII. 

SECTION  1.  Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except 
as  a  punishment  for  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly 
convicted,  shall  exist  within  the  United  States,  or  in  any  place 
subject  to  their  jurisdiction. 

SEC.  2.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article  by 
appropriate  legislation. 

ARTICLE   XIY. 

SECTION  1.  All  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United 
States,  and  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citizens  of  the 
United  States  and  of  the  State  wherein  they  reside.  No  State 
shall  make  or  enforce  any  law  which  shall  abridge  the  privileges 
or  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United  States;  nor  shall  any 
State  deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty,  or  property  without  due 
process  of  law ;  nor  deny  to  any  person  within  its  jurisdiction  the 
equal  protection  of  the  law. 

SEC.  2.  Representatives  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  several 
States  according  to  their  respective  numbers,  counting  the  whole 
number  of  persons  in  each  State,  excluding  Indians  not  taxed; 
but  when  the  right  to  vote  at  any  election  for  the  choice  of 
electors  for  President  and  Vice-President  of  the  United  States, 
Representatives  in  Congress,  the  executive  and  judicial  officers  of 
a  State,  or  the  members  of  the  Legislature  thereof,  is  denied  to 


CONSTITUTION   OP  THE  UNITED   STATES.  393 

any  of  the  male  inhabitants  of  such  State,  (being  twenty-one 
years  of  age  and  citizens  of  the  United  States,)  or  in  any  way 
abridged  except  for  participation  in  rebellion  or  other  crime,  the 
basis  of  representation  therein  shall  be  reduced  in  the  proportion 
which  the  number  of  such  male  citizens  shall  bear  to  the  whole 
number  of  male  citizens  twenty-one  years  of  age  in  such  State. 

SEC.  3.  No  person  shall  be  a  Senator  or  Representative  in  Con- 
gress, or  Elector,  or  President,  or  Vice-President,  or  hold  any  office, 
civil  or  military,  under  the  United  States,  or  under  any  State,  who, 
having  previously  taken  an  oath  as  a  member  of  Congress,  or  as  an 
officer  of  the  United  States,  or  as  a  member  of  any  State  legisla- 
ture, or  as  an  executive  or  judicial  officer  of  any  State,  to  support 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  shall  have  engaged  in  insur- 
rection or  rebellion  against  the  same,  or  given  aid  or  comfort  to  the 
enemies  thereof;  but  Congress  may,  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  each 
House,  remove  such  disability. 

SEC.  4.  The  validity  of  the  public  debt  of  the  United  States, 
authorized  by  law,  including  debts  incurred  for  payment  of  pen- 
sions and  bounties,  for  services  in  suppressing  insurrection  or  re- 
bellion, shall  not  be  questioned ;  but  neither  the  United  States  nor 
any  State  shall  assume  or  pay  any  debt  or  obligation  incurred  in 
aid  of  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the  United  States,  or  any 
claim  for  the  loss  of  or  emancipation  of  any  slave.  But  all  such 
debts,  obligations,  and  claims  shall  be  held  illegal  and  void. 

SEC.  5.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce,  by  appropriate 
legislation,  the  provisions  of  this  article. 

ARTICLE  xv. 

SECTION  1.  The  right  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  to 
vote  shall  not  be  denied  or  abridged  by  the  United  States  or  any 
State,  on  account  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude. 

SEC.  2.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article 
by  appropriate  legislation. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  FIRST  PRESIDENT  OP 
THE  UNITED  STATES— SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE 
AND  ADMINISTRATION. 

His  Remarkable  Modesty. — Opposed  to  Slavery  Although  a  Slave- 
holder.— The  Country  Bordering  on  Anarchy. — Quarrels  Between 
the  Federalists  and  Anti-Federalists. — Not  a  Partisan  Himself. — His 
Virtues  Derived  from  His  Mother. — Mount  Vernon  an  Inheritance 
from  His  Brother. — His  Sense  of  Justice. — Love  of  Truth  and  Per- 
sonal Honor. — Farewell  Address  to  His  Army. — His  Admirably  Bal- 
anced Character. — "Washington's  Cabinet. — His  Retirement  to  Private 
Life  at  Most  Welcome. 

Although  six  years  elapsed  between  the  resignation  of 
George  Washington  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  con- 
tinental army  and  his  inauguration  as  first  President  of 
the  United  States,  there  was  never  any  doubt  in  the 
minds  of  the  mass  of  his  fellow-countrymen  that,  what- 
ever form  the  new  executive  office  might  take,  he  would 
be  called  upon  to  fill  it. 

No  American  has  ever  been  so  distinctly  the  first, 
citizen  of  his  country,  albeit  he  was  at  the  time  the  cen- 
tral figure  of  a  group  of  men  more  remarkable  as  a 

(394) 


LIVES   OF  THE   PRESIDENTS.  397 

group,  perhaps,  than  any  the  nation  has  since  produced. 
His  successors,  John  Adams,  Thomas  Jefferson,  James 
Madison,  and  James  Monroe,  were  his  contemporaries, 
co-laborers,  and  friends  in  the  difficult  initial  years  of 
national  life ;  and  he  had  beside,  to  aid  in  his  cabinet 
counsels,  men  of  such  distinguished  ability  as  Alexander 
Hamilton  of  New  York ;  General  Henry  Knox  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  Edmund  Randolph  of  Virginia.  But  the 
power  which  made  Washington  preeminently  the  leader, 
resulted  from  the  extraordinary  equipoise  of  the  traits 
of  his  character.  A  better-balanced  man  has  seldom 
been  born  ;  and  everywhere,  and  under  all  circumstances, 
this  peculiar  evenness  made  him  superior  in  action  to 
men  whose  purely  intellectual  qualities  were  greater  than 
his.  To  his  strength  of  character  was  principally  due 
Washington's  grand  success ;  for  he  had  no  unusual  ad- 
vantages in  his  childhood  and  youth  to  open  to  him  an 
easy  road  to  fame. 

Born  in  Westmoreland  County,  Virginia,  February  22, 
1732,  George  was  the  second  and  younger  son  of  Augus- 
tine Washington  and  Mary  Ball,  his  second  wife.  Augus- 
tine Washington  was  a  man  of  considerable  landed  prop- 
erty, as  were  most  of  the  Virginia  country  gentlemen. 
As  the  laws  of  primogeniture  were  yet  in  force  at  that 
period,  his  elder  son,  Lawrence,  received  far  more  bene- 
fit from  his  father's  means  than  did  George,  whose  sole 
education  was  gained  at  the  neighboring  schools,  consist- 


398  LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS. 

ing  mainly  of  the  three  essentials,  reading,  writing,  and 
arithmetic.  To  these,  he  himself  contrived  to  add  book- 
keeping and  surveying,  for  which  he  had  a  special  apti- 
tude, and  which,  later  in  life,  served  him  in  excellent 
stead.  All  the  anecdotes  of  his  childhood  and  youth 
show  that  he  early  developed  the  keen  sense  of  justice, 
the  high  regard  for  truth  and  deep  sense  of  personal 
honor  which  distiii<_ruislicd  him  until  his  death.  As  a 
lad,  he  was  a  noted  athlete,  a  bold  and  graceful  rider, 
and  did  well  whatever  he  undertook.  His  father,  Augus- 
tine Washington,  died  when  George  was  nine  years  old, 
leaving  the  estate  of  Mount  Yernon,  on  the  Potomac 
River,  to  the  elder  son  Lawrence.  George,  being  a  great 
favorite  with  his  elder  brother,  thereafter  spent  much  of 
his  time  at  Mount  Vernon,  so  that  his  early  as  well  as 
his  late  years  are  associated  with  the  pleasant  old  home- 
stead. It  was  at  one  time  intended  that  George  should 
enter  the  navy ;  but,  in  deference  to  his  mother's  strong 
opposition,  he  gave  up  the  idea,  and  devoted  himself 
most  earnestly  to  the  study  and  practice  of  surveying, 
which  he  proposed  to  make  his  profession. 

It  is  declared  that  George  Washington  inherited  from 
his  mother — as  many  other  great  men  are  thought  to  have 
done — those  qualities  of  mind  and  character  which  made 
him  great.  Mrs.  Washington  was  a  woman  of  vigorous 
intellect  and  indomitable  will,  with  a  strong  sense  of 
right  and  wrong ;  and  a  deep  determination  to  make  up 


LIVES  OF  THE  PEESIDENTS.  899 

in  the  training  of  her  son,  George,  so  far  as  possible,  for 
the  early  loss  of  his  father.  So  well  did  she  succeed  in 
her  efforts  that,  almost  before  he  had  reached  manhood, 
he  was  quite  fitted  to  take  a  man's  part  in  life.  When 
George  was  barely  nineteen,  he  received  the  appointment 
of  Adjutant,  with  the  rank  of  Major,  in  the  military  ser- 
vice of  Virginia,  which,  in  anticipation  of  the  beginning 
of  the  French  and  Indian  war,  was  mobilizing  as  rapidly 
as  possible  the  troops  at  command.  For  a  short  time, 
he  served  with  credit ;  but  was  soon  compelled  to  resign, 
in  order  to  accompany  his  brother  Lawrence  to  Barba- 
does  in  search  of  his  swiftly-failing  health.  The  trip 
failed  of  its  purpose,  and  Lawrence  returned  to  die  at 
Mount  Vernon  in  the  following  year,  1752.  In  the  event 
of  the  death  of  his  infant  daughter,  which  very  shortly 
took  place,  Lawrence  Washington  bequeathed  Mount 
Yernon  to  his  beloved  brother  George,  and  it  was  ever 
after  his  home  and  favorite  residence. 

At  this  juncture  the  difficulties  of  the  French  and 
Indian  troubles  became  so  great  that  Washington  was 
entrusted  with  a  delicate  mission  to  the  French  com- 
mander, which  he  performed  with  such  skill,  in  the  face 
of  such  dangers  and  disasters,  that  he  became  almost 
instantly  famous.  Offered  the  colonelcy  of  a  new  regi- 
ment, he  modestly  declined  it,  accepting  the  lieutenant- 
colonelcy  instead ;  but,  in  consequence  of  the  death  of 
the  colonel,  he  was  soon  after  compelled  to  fill  the 


400  LIVES   OF  THE   PRESIDENTS. 

position  he  had  previously  declined.  He  continued  in 
the  army,  serving  with  ability,  though  not  always  with 
success,  for  five  years,  until  the  fall  of  Fort  Duquesne, 
and  the  expulsion  of  the  French  from  the  Ohio  valley 
practically  closed  the  war,  and  gave  him  an  opportunity 
to  resign  with  honor,  in  order  to  return  to  the  country 
life  he  preferred.  Another  fact,  which  doubtless  influ- 
enced his  decision  more  than  he  chose  to  admit,  was  that 
he  had  fallen  in  love  with  a  charming  widow,  Mrs.  Martha 
Custis,  to  whom  he  was  married — the  marriage  proved 
happy,  but  childless — on  January  17,  1759,  in  the 
twenty-seventh  year  of  his  age.  Having  been  trained 
by  his  mother  in  admirable  habits  of  thrift  and  manage- 
ment, he  had  already  been  enabled  to  considerably 
increase  the  property  left  him  by  his  father  and  his 
brother,  and  during  the  few  years  of  his  retirement  at 
Mount  Vernon,  he  increased  it  still  further.  Although 
a  slave-holder,  as  were  all  the  property  owners  of  his 
day,  he  was  sincerely  opposed  to  the  institution ;  neither 
bought  nor  sold  slaves,  and  declared  in  his  will  that  he 
would  gladly  manumit  all  of  his,  but  for  the  complica- 
tions which  would  arise  in  connection  with  those  inher- 
ited by  his  wife,  and  which  could  not  be  freed  until  her 
death.  So  considerate  a  master  was  he  that  he  abandoned 
the  cultivation  of  tobacco,  chiefly  because  he  believed  it 
to  be  injurious  to  the  hands  who  raised  it. 

Washington  was  not  one  of  those  who  early  desired  a 


LIVES   OP  THE  PRESIDENTS.  401 

rupture  with  England;  but  when,  convinced  that  the 
Colonies  could  not  get  justice  from  the  home  government, 
he  became  an  ardent  patriot,  and  was  appointed  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  of  the  Revolutionary  army  on  June  15th, 
1775,  two  months  after  the  first  shot  had  been  fired  at 
Concord.  Probably,  no  commander  ever  entered  a  war, 
conducted  and  conquered  it,  who  was  so  ill  prepared  in 
every  material  way.  His  troops  were  inexperienced,  ill 
clothed,  ill  fed,  ill  paid,  if  they  chanced  to  be  paid  at  all ; 
he  was  himself  unaccustomed  to  handle  large  bodies  of 
troops,  nor  had  any  of  his  assistant-commanders  greater 
experience  on  which  he  might  draw.  He  had  to  conduct 
his  campaigns  over  a  large  area  of  country  against  an 
enemy  superior  in  everything  but  pluck  and  principle. 
He  had  private  enmity  and  public  opposition  to  en- 
counter; but  he  patiently,  hopefully,  and  skillfully  car- 
ried the  conflict  to  a  successful  close.  On  December 
23,  1783,  he  made  a  most  beautiful  parting  address  to 
his  army,  unbuckled  his  sword,  and  returned  to  his 
farming  on  the  Potomac. 

For  some  years  succeeding  the  close  of  the  Revolution, 
the  United  States  were  in  a  condition  bordering  on 
anarchy.  The  country  experienced  a  strong  sense  of 
relief  when  a  preliminary  convention  at  Annapolis  in 
1787,  assembled  to  consider  the  generally  hopeless  con- 
dition, called  another  and  more  important  convention  in 
the  following  May  at  Philadelphia.  It  was  at  this  con- 


402  LIVES  OP  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

vention  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was 
framed  and  adopted  ;  and  it  was  immediately  after,  that 
George  Washington  was  elected  President  and  John 
Adams  Vice-President  of  the  then  infant  country.  In 
view  of  the  importance  with  which  the  vote  of  the  State 
of  New  York  is  now  regarded  in  Presidential  elections, 
it  is  a  curious  historical  fact  that  New  York  was  the  only 
State  that  cast  no  vote  at  the  first  election  of  Washing- 
ton. It  was  apparently  from  mere  want  of  interest  in 
the  new  constitutional  government  that  New  York 
neglected  so  important  a  duty.  In  Washington's  first 
cabinet  sat  Thomas  Jefferson  as  Secretary  of  State ; 
Alexander  Hamilton  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury ; 
Henry  Knox  as  Secretary  of  War,  and  Edmund'  Ran- 
dolph as  Attorney-General;  and  the  administration 
opened  with  brilliant  promise.  It  was  not  long,  ho\v- 
ever,  before  the  interests  of  the  Federalists  and  anti- 
Federalists  began  to  clash  in  the  persons  of  their  leaders 
in  the  cabinet, — Hamilton  and  Knox  on  the  former  side, 
Jefferson  and  Randolph  on  the  latter.  President  Wash- 
ington carried  himself  with  great  tact  between  the  op- 
posing factions,  although  his  personal  leanings  were 
slightly  toward  the  Federalists ;  but  they  ultimately  dis- 
membered his  cabinet,  depriving  him  of  the  strong  sup- 
port he  had  relied  on,  and  toward  the  latter  years  of  his 
second  term,  despoiling  him  of  much  of  his  popularity. 
Washington  had  not  desired  a  reelection,  and  only  con- 


LIVES   OF  THE   PEESIDENTS.  403 

sented  to  a  second  term  at  the  most  earnest  solicitation 
of  men  whose  advice  he  felt  bound  to  take.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  he  welcomed  the  day  of  his  permanent 
return  to  Mount  Vernon.  He  lived  three  years  after  his 
retirement  from  the  Presidency,  and  died  at  Mount 
Yernon  of  an  attack  of  acute  laryngitis  after  twenty-four 
hours  of  illness,  on  December  14,  1799,  in  the  sixty- 
eighth  year  of  his  age. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


JOHN    ADAMS.  \D    PRI>II'K.\T    OF    THE 

UMTKD  STA'i 

Not  by  any  Means  so  Popular  as  His  Predecessor.— Elected  by 
Three  Vote*  Only. — The  Country  Beginning  to  be  an  Independant 
Nation.— Commenting  Life  as  a  School  Teacher.— His  Wife  a  Re- 
markable Woman. — Adam*  a  Vigorous  Speaker  and  Pointed  Writer 
of  Choleric  Temper.— Bitter  Hostility  Between  Parties.— Employed 
on  Delicate  Misaiona.— Extremely  Active  in  Political  Life.— One  of 
the  First  to  See  a  Final  Rupture  with  the  Mother  Country  Inevitable. 

When  John  Adams,  the  second  President,  succeeded 
Washington  in  the  executive  chair  on  March  4.  17'.»7,  he 
was  by  no  means  the  unanimous  choice  of  the  people  his 
predecessor  had  been.  Indeed,  his  election  was  secured 
by  only  three  votes  more  than  Thomas  Jefferson,  his 
most  powerful  rival  of  the  opposition,  received.  As  the 
custom  then  prevailed  of  the  candidate  receiving  the 
second  largest  vote  becoming  Vice-President,  Jef; 
assumed  that  office,  and  the  anomalous  spectacle  was 
presented  of  a  President  and  Vice-President  of  opposing 

(404) 


LIVES   OF  THE  PEESIDENTS.  405 

political  parties.  During  the  eight  years  of  Washing- 
ton's administration,  the  United  States  had  been  grad- 
ually and  surely  taking  on  the  characteristics  of  an  inde- 
pendent nation,  although  a  nation  so  young  as  not  to 
have  arranged  its  domestic  economies,  or  adjusted  its 
foreign  relations.  As  the  sense  of  general  security 
increased,  factional  and  sectional  differences  were  greatly  _ 
augmented,  because  the  leading  men  had  then  more  time 
and  attention  to  give  to  secondary  matters.  Therefore, 
although  John  Adams  found  an  organized  body  politic 
where  Washington  found  chaos,  he  also  met  internal 
dissension,  intense  personal  enmities,  and  European 
complications  that  rendered  the  Presidency  anything  but 
desirable  to  any  one  who  was  not  a  strong  man  and  a 
true  patriot.  Both  of  these  Adams  unquestionably  was. 
Born  in  that  portion  of  the  old  town  of  Braintree,  now 
known  as  Quincy,  Massachusetts,  on  the  30th  of  October, 
1735,  he  was  the  eldest  son  of  John  Adams,  an  estima- 
ble farmer  of  limited  means.  Possessed  by  the  charac- 
teristic Xew  England  desire  for  education,  the  father  did 
his  best  for  the  son,  who  was  graduated  from  Harvard 
College  in  1755.  Like  many  who  have  become  famous 
in  the  history  of  this  country,  he  began  his  practical  life, 
after  leaving  college,  by  teaching  school,  at  Worcester, 
Massachusetts.  Having  exceptional  intellectual  power, 
and  a  lively  ambition,  the  atmosphere  of  a  grammar 
school  neither  suited  nor  satisfied  young  John ;  and  in 


406  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

the  hope  of  opening  a  new  path  to  fame  and  fortune,  he 
began,  while  still  teaching,  the  study  of  law.  He  had 
thought  of  becoming  a  clergyman,  but  witnessing  cer- 
tain church  quarrels  in  his  native  town,  he  was,  to  quote 
his  own  words,  *'  terrified  out  of  it."  He  would  have 
been  glad  to  enter  the  army,  had  he  possessed  the  influ- 
ence to  secure  a  commission.  That  being  out  of  the 
question,  the  law  seemed  his  only  resource,  and  he 
applied  himself  with  such  energy  to  it,  that  in  two  years 
he  began  to  practice  in  Boston,  at  the  Suffolk  County 
Bar.  Before  very  long  he  had  built  up  a  practice  which, 
as  he  considered,  justified  him  in  marrying,  and,  accord- 
ingly, in  1764,  he  united  himself  to  Abigail  Smith,  the 
daughter  of  a  prominent  clergyman  of  Weymouth.  This 
union,  which  at  the  time  it  took  place,  promised  to  bring 
young  Adams  considerable  worldly  advantage,  his  wife's 
family  connections  being  much  more  prominent  and  pros- 
perous than  his  own,  proved  in  every  way  to  be  most  for- 
tunate. Abigail  Adams  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
women  of  the  Revolutionary  period.  Her  qualities  so  ad- 
mirably supplemented  her  husband's,  and  her  nature  so 
thoroughly  assimilated  with  his  that  the  marriage  not 
only  brought  him  personal  happiness,  but  it  enabled  him 
to  grasp  all  of  the  great  opportunities  which  later  crowded 
his  life.  Wherever  and  whenever  his  public  duties  ren- 
dered it  necessary  for  him  to  neglect  his  private  duties,  his 
wife  more  than  made  good  the  neglect.  With  less  of  the 


LIVES   OF  THE   PRESIDENTS  407 

womanly  softness  and  charm  of  her  successor  in  the 
White  House,  pretty  Dolly  Madison,  Abigail  Adams  had 
a  strength  of  character  and  a  vigor  of  mind  that  found 
full  vent  in  the  troublous  times  in  which  she  lived.  She 
was  so  true  a  helpmate  that  wherever  his  life  is  told,  hers 
should  not  be  omitted. 

The  early  shadows  of  the  Revolution  were  beginning 
to  fall  when  John  Adams  was  married  ;  and  the  agitation 
of  the  Stamp  Act  called  him  to  the  political  front  in  his 
native  town.  He  was  appointed  junior  counsel  with 
Jeremiah  Gridley  and  James  Otis,  to  present  a  memorial 
to  the  Governor  and  Council  praying  that  the  courts  might 
conduct  their  business  without  the  use  of  stamps.  From 
that  time  on,  Adams  was  continually  in  public  and  poli- 
tical life  until  he  retired  from  the  Presidency  in  1801. 
He  held  many  offices,  beginning  with  that  of  Represen- 
tative to  the  General  Court  (Legislature),  ardently  work- 
ing with  tongue  and  pen  for  what  he  believed  to  be  the 
best  good  of  the  country.  He  was  a  vigorous  speaker ; 
a  terse  and  pointed  though  not  eloquent  writer ;  and  be- 
ing naturally  somewhat  pugnacious,  he  found  plenty  of 
occasion  for  the  use  of  his  best  ability. 

As  the  difficulties  with  the  mother  country  increased, 
and  the  future  of  the  colonies  became  more  uncertain, 
Adams  was  one  of  the  first  to  conclude  that  a  final  rup- 
ture was  inevitable ;  and  as  soon  as  he  had  come  to  this 
conclusion,  threw  himself  with  all  the  ardor  and  energy 


408  LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS. 

of  his  nature  into  the  work  of  preparing  the  country  for 
the  impending  conflict.  It  was  mainly  through  his 
efforts  that  tin-  important  Congress  of  1775,  which  sent 
a  final  petition  for  rights  to  King  George  III,  also  passed 
a  bill  to  put  the  colonies  in  a  state  of  defence,  in  the 
event  of  the  threatened  war.  It  \vas  he  also  who  per- 
ceived the  importance  of  making  Washington  Commander- 
in-Chief,  although  he  suggested  it  rather  from  the  politic 
motive  of  binding  the  .Southern  Stales  to  the  interests  of 
the  Revolution,  than  because  he  then  regarded  him  as  the 
greatest  colonial  General.  Aliotit  this  time,  some  of  his 
private  letters,  full  of  candid  e.\pres>ions  concerning 
men  and  measures,  fell  into  hands  for  which  they 
were  not  intended,  and  their  publication  caused  consider- 
able excitement,  and  aroused  some  distrust  of  him, 
though  not  enough  to  compel  him  in  any  way  to  abandon 
his  public  career.  Indeed,  throughout  his  life  Adams' 
inclination  to  unwise  letter-writing  frequently  got  him 
into  trouble,  and  finally  sent  him  out  of  the  Presidential 
office  under  an  unhappy  cloud. 

When  the  Revolution  was  finally  entered  upon,  Adams 
and  Jefferson  were  appointed  a  committee  to  draw  up 
articles  of  war  to  govern  the  army  ;  but  the  principal 
labor  of  preparation  fell  upon  Adams,  as  did  also  the 
work  of  getting  the  necessary  legislation  in  Congress, 
the  latter  being  by  far  the  harder  part.  In  spite  of  the 
impulsiveness  of  his  acts,  and  the  frequent  intemperance 


LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS.  409 

of  his  speech,  Adams'  opinion  and  advice  were  constantly 
in  demand,  and  he  was  ever  one  of  the  foremost  figures 
of  that  important  period.  His  really  clear  head  and  in- 
tegrity of  purpose  were  always  patent,  and  he  was  called 
upon  to  fill  the  most  important  positions.  He  was  sent 
to  Paris  on  the  delicate  mission  of  securing  the  alliance 
of  Prance  for  the  revolting  colonies  ;  to  England  to  treat 
for  peace  and  negotiate  a  commercial  treaty ;  to  Hol- 
land to  raise  a  loan  for  the  almost  bankrupt  States.  His 
services  in  Europe  were  so  important  to  his  country  that 
he  was  kept  there  in  one  and  another  capacity  for  fully  ten 
years,  closing  his  career  there,  at  last,  in  the  capacity  of 
Minister  to  the  Court  of  St.  James.  Almost  immediately 
upon  his  return  to  America,  he  was  elected  Vice-Presi- 
dent,  and  occupied  that  office  for  two  the  terms  of  Wash- 
ington's Presidency. 

During  Adams'  Presidency,  the  antagonism  between 
the  Federal  and  anti-Federal  parties  became  so  intense, 
and  party  feeling  ran  so  high  that  the  President,  an  ar- 
dent Federalist,  was  led  into  many  injudicious  public  acts 
that  lessened  the  general  confidence  in  his  judgment, 
and  in  connection  with  foreign  complications,  ultimately 
overthrew  the  party  of  which  he  was  the  distinguished 
head.  After  his  second  nomination,  he  was  so  thoroughly 
beaten  by  his  chief  antagonist,  Thomas  Jefferson,  the 
leader  of  the  anti-Federalists,  that  he  quitted  the  capital 
in  bitterness  of  spirit  and  deep  disappointment  before 


410  LIVES  OF   THE   PRESIDENTS. 

the  newly-elected  Executive  was  inaugurated.  Although, 
to  a  certain  extent,  Adams  brought  his  defeat  distinctly 
upon  himself,  still  he  was  largely  justified  in  considering 
that  his  country  had  made  him  a  poor  return  for  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century's  absolute  self-devotion  to 
its  interests.  He  was  as  honest  and  true  a  patriot  as  a 
man  could  be ;  and  united  to  a  large  mind  a  character, 
which,  while  it  was  not  lovable,  commanded  always  the 
the  highest  esteem  and  respect. 

Adams  lived  twenty-five  years  longer  in  retirement  at 
his  home  in  Braintree,  dying  on  the  4th  of  July,  1826, 
at  the  age  of  ninety,  within  an  hour  or  two  of  the  demise 
of  his  old  friend  and  old  rival  Thomas  Jefferson.  Within 
the  last  dozen  years  of  their  lives,  the  breach  between 
them  caused  by  Adams's  final  political  overthrow,  was 
healed,  and  they  opened  a  correspondence  which  was  to 
each  a  great  consolation  during  their  last  inactive  years. 


CHAPTER      XXVI. 


THOMAS    JEFFERSON,    THIRD    PRESIDENT    OF 
THE  UNITED  STATES. 

His  Pride  in  the  Authorship  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
— The  First  Genuine  Democrat. — His  Radical  Revision  of  the  Laws 
of  Virginia. — The  Final  Treaty  of  Peace. — His  Views  Opposed  to 
Hamilton's. — Genest's  Extraordinary  Conduct  as  French  Minister. — 
Love  of  France  and  French  Institutions. — Jefferson  and  Aaron  Burr 
Receive  the  Same  Number  of  Votes  for  President. — Simplification  of 
Customs  and  Manners. — His  Dislike  of  Titles. — His  Personal  Appear- 
ance and  Delightful  Companionship. 

Thomas  Jefferson,  the  third  President,  will  be  remem- 
bered in  history  as  tlie  author  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  when  his  Presidency  has  been  forgotten. 
He  was  much  prouder  of  having  written  that  immortal 
document  than  of  having  held  any  office,  and  desired 
that  the  fact  should  be  inscribed  on  his  tomb.  "  The 
Declaration  is  equal,"  says  Edward  Everett,  "to  any- 
thing ever  born  on  parchment,  or  expressed  in  the 
visible  signs  of  thought."  "The  heart  of  Jefferson,  in 
writing  it,"  remarks  George  Bancroft,  "  beat  for  all 

(411) 


412  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

humanity."  Jefferson  was  born  at  Shadwcll,  Ya.,  not 
far  from  Monticello,  the  place  associated  with  his  name 
and  death,  April  2,  1743,  and  was  the  oldest  of  eight 
children.  His  parents  were  Peter  Jefferson,  a  man  of 
great  mental  and  physical  strength,  and  Jane  Randolph, 
of  direct  and  distinguished  English  descent.  Thomas 
began  at  nine  his  classical  studies,  and,  eight  years 
after,  entered  an  advanced  class  at  William  and  Mary 
College  at  Williamsburg,  where  he  was  noted  for  his 
diligence  and  proficiency  in  languages.  Having  studied 
law  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  twenty-four,  and  was 
so  successful  that  he  earned  the  first  year  about  $3,000, 
— equivalent  to  five  times  the  sum  at  the  present  time. 
He  began  his  public  career,  two  years  later,  as  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  where  he  had  heard,  while  a 
student,  Patrick  Henry's  great  speech  on  the  Stamp 
Act,  having  formed  his  acquaintance  when  Henry  was 
an  insolvent  shop-keeper.  In  1773,  he  joined  with 
Henry,  and  other  patriots,  in  devising  the  famous  Com- 
mittee of  Correspondence  and  Inquiry  for  spreading 
intelligence  between  the  Colonies.  Just  before  this,  he 
had  married  Martha  Skelton,  a  young  and  attractive 
widow,  the  daughter  of  a  prominent  lawyer.  She  had 
considerable  property  in  land  and  slaves,  and  as  he  also 
had  a  good  patrimony,  the  united  estate,  added  to  his 
professional  earnings,  was  quite  valuable. 

Elected  in  1774  to  a  convention  to  choose  delegates 


LIVES   OP   THE   PRESIDENTS.  413 

to  the  First  Continental  Congress  at  Philadelphia,  he 
drew  up  for  their  instruction  his  renowned  "  Summary 
View  of  the  Rights  of  British  America."  This  was 
rejected  as  too  radical,  but  was  afterward  issued  by  the 
House  of  Burgesses,  and  published  in  Great  Britain, 
after  some  revision  by  Edmund  Burke.  On  the  21st 
of  June,  1775,  he  took  his  seat  in  the  Continental 
Congress,  and  was  conspicuous  in  that  body  on  account 
of  his  intellectual  attainments  and  political  acumen. 
He  served  on  the  most  important  committees,  and  aided 
John  Dickinson  in  preparing  a  declaration  of  the  cause 
of  the  Colonies  taking  up  arms.  As  George  III  rejected 
their  final  petition,  and  thus  destroyed  all  hope  of  an 
honorable  adjustment  of  their  grievances,  Jefferson  was 
made  chairman  of  a  committee,  early  in  1776,  to  pre- 
pare a  Declaration  of  Independence.  It  was  unani- 
mously adopted  July  4th,  and  signed  by  every  member 
present  except  John  Dickinson,  of  Pennsylvania,  who 
believed  it  to  be  premature.  Several  months  later,  he 
resigned  his  seat  to  take  part  in  the  discussions  and 
examinations  of  the  Virginia  Assembly.  Having  fur- 
nished a  preamble  to  a  State  Constitution  previously 
adopted,  he  spent  two  years  and  a  half  in  radically 
revising  the  laws  of  the  Commonwealth ;  procuring  the 
repeal  of  the  laws  of  entail,  the  abolition  of  primogeni- 
ture, and  the  restoration  of  the  rights  of  conscience. 
He  was  persuaded  that  these  and  kindred  reforms  would 
destroy  every  fibre  of  ancient  and  future  aristocracy. 


414  LIVES   OF  THE   PRESIDENTS. 

In  June,  1779,  Jefferson  succeeded  Patrick  Henry  as 
Governor  of  Virginia,  and  retained  the  office  for  one 
term ;  declining  a  reelection  on  the  ground  that,  at  so 
critical  a  period,  the  community  would  have  more  faith 
in  a  military  man.  He  had  hardly  retired  from  office 
when  his  estate  at  Elk  Hill  was  laid  waste  by  the 
British,  and  he  and  his  family  had  a  narrow  escape  from 
capture.  Sent  back  to  Congress  in  1783,  he  reported, 
as  chairman  of  a  committee,  the  final  treaty  of  peace — 
concluded  at  Paris,  September  3,  1783, — acknowledging 
the  independence  announced  in  the  Declaration  of  1776. 
A  bill,  establishing  the  present  Federal  system  of  coin- 
age as  a  substitute  for  the  British  system,  he  also 
proposed,  and  caused  to  be  passed  by  Congress.  In 
May,  1784,  he  was  appointed  Minister  Plenipotentiary 
to  negotiate,  with  Adams  and  Franklin,  treaties  of  com- 
merce and  amity  with  foreign  powers,  and  the  next  year 
he  succeeded  Franklin  as  resident-minister  at  Paris. 
He  became  very  fond  of  France  and  of  French  institu- 
tions, infinitely  preferring  them  to  those  of  England, 
and  manifested  his  predilection  ever  afterward.  His 
residence  abroad  was  one  of  the  happiest  periods  of  his 
life.  While  there  he  published  his  "Notes  on  Virginia," 
referring  to  commerce,  politics,  manufactures,  etc., 
which  attracted  attention  throughout  Europe.  He  per- 
formed his  diplomatic  duties  with  marked  ability  ; 
became  intimate  with  D'Holbach,  Condorcet  D'Alembert, 


LIVES   OF  THE   PRESIDENTS.  415 

and  other  liberal  minds  ;  found  leisure  to  travel  in  the 
provinces,  Germany  and  Italy,  and  profited  much  by  his 
opportunities  and  experiences.  Having  obtained  per- 
mission to  return  home,  he  quitted  Paris  in  September, 
1789,  and  reached  Virginia  soon  after  the  election  of 
Washington,  who  offered  him  the  Secretaryship  of  State, 
which  he  accepted.  The  Federal  Constitution,  then 
recently  adopted,  he  did  not  approve,  because  he  thought 
there  were  as  many  bad  as  good  things  in  it — an  opinion 
he  afterward  materially  modified. 

During  Washington's  administration,  the  two  great 
political  parties  of  the  country,  the  Republicans  and 
Federalists,  respectively  under  the  leadership  of  Jeffer- 
son and  Alexander  Hamilton,  then  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  began  their  vehement  opposition.  Jefferson 
passionately  combated  Hamilton's  funding  system,  his 
national  bank,  and  other  financial  measures,  and  ear- 
nestly advocated  aiding  France  with  our  arms,  when 
war  had  broken  out  between  her  and  Holland  and 
England ;  Hamilton  contending,  on  the  other  hand,  for 
a  strict  neutrality.  The  Republicans  were  disposed  to 
fit  out  privateers  in  American  ports,  to  cruise  against 
English  ships,  while  the  Federalists  denounced  any  such 
action  as  unjust,  and  as  likely  to  involve  us  in  war  with 
a  friendly  nation.  The  President,  who  had  just  entered 
on  his  second  term,  warned,  in  a  proclamation,  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States  against  carrying  to  the 


416  LIVES   OF  THE   PRESIDENTS. 

hostile  powers  articles  contraband  of  war,  or  doing 
aught  that  would  violate  the  neutrality  laws.  Jefferson 
favored  receiving  a  minister  from  the  French  Republic, 
who  was  received  in  the  person  of  Edward  Genest, 
and  was  so  cordially  welcomed  in  some  parts  of  the 
country  as  a  representative  of  the  nation  which  had 
helped  us  to  secure  our  freedom,  that  he  tried  to 
persuade  the  people  here  that  they  ought  to  do  all  they 
could  for  France.  He  fiercely  abused  the  Government 
for  its  want  of  sympathy,  and  even  fitted  out  privateers 
from  Charleston,  and  projected  hostile  expeditions 
airainst  Florida  and  Louisiana,  then  colonies  of  Spain, 
lit-  armed  a  prize, and  ordered  her  to  sail  as  a  privateer. 
Hamilton  advocated  the  erection  of  a  battery  to  prevent 
this,  and  denounced  Genest  as  a  man  determined  to 
embroil  us  with  Great  Britain.  Jefferson  declared  the 
vessel  would  not  sail ;  but  she  did  sail,  and  the  Federal- 
ists urged  that  the  Frenchman  should  be  ordered  out  of 
the  country  forthwith.  It  was  finally  determined  that 
a  request  should  be  made  for  his  recall,  and  he  was 
recalled.  But  he  decided  to  remain ;  he  settled  in  the 
State  of  New  York,  was  naturalized,  and  married  a 
daughter  of  George  Clinton.  These  differences  caused 
violent  discussions  in  the  Cabinet,  particularly  between 
Jefferson  and  Hamilton,  who  carried  all  his  measures 
against  his  rival.  Jefferson  resigned  his  office  December 
31, 1793,  and  retired  to  Monticello. 


LIVES    OF   THE    PEESIDENTS.  417 

At  the  close  of  Washington's  administration,  Jefferson 
was,  as  has  been  said,  nominated  for  the  Presidency  by 
the  Republicans,  against  John  Adams,  nominated  by  the 
Federalists.  At  the  election  Adams  got  the  largest 
number  of  votes,  and  was  declared  President,  and  Jeffer- 
son coming  next,  was,  according  to  a  then  existing  rule, 
the  Vice-President.  Accordingly  he  became  President 
of  the  United  States  Senate.  The  administration  was 
very  stormy,  in  consequence  of  disputes  with  France  and 
other  delicate  and  difficult  questions.  At  the  next  gen- 
eral election,  Jefferson  and  Adams  were  again  candidates 
of  their  respective  parties,  and  the  Republicans  were 
victorious,  though  casting  an  equal  number  of  votes — 
seventy-three — for  Jefferson  and  Aaron  Burr.  This 
threw  the  election  into  the  House  of  Representatives, 
which,  on  the  thirty-sixth  ballot,  declared  Jefferson 
President  and  Burr  Vice-President.  They  took  their 
seats  March  4,  1801,  in  Washington,  to  which  the 
capital  had,  a  short  time  previous,  been  removed.  Jef- 
ferson and  his  principles  had  triumphed  at  last,  and  he 
carefully  refrained  from  doing  anything  to  diminish  his 
great  popularity.  The  Federalists  were  treated  with 
consideration,  and  they  rapidly  dwindled  until  few  of 
them  were  left,  and  those  few  were  the  reverse  of  ag- 
gressive. Dress  and  manners  became  far  more  simple ; 
the  pompous  dignity  and  ceremony  of  Washington's 
epoch  disappeared,  to  give  place  to  extreme  simplicity,  to 
which  the  new  Executive  had  always  strenuously  inclined. 


418  LIVES   OF  THE   PRESIDENTS. 

The  government  bought  Louisiana,  which  had  been  ceded 
by  Spain  to  France,  for  $15,000,000,  aud  the  advantage 
of  the  purchase  was  great.  Captains  Lewis  and  Clark 
received  instructions  from  Jefferson  to  explore  the  Con- 
tinent to  the  Pacific.  Commodore  Preble  sustained  the 
riirhtof  the  nation  in  the  Mediterranean  against  Morocco, 
and  Decatur  obliged  Tripoli  to  sue  for  peace  after  a  most 
gallant  exploit.  These  events  augmented  the  popularity 
of  Jefferson's  administration,  and  contributed  greatly  to 
his  reflection.  The  year  following,  he  was  obliged  to 
arrest  Burr  on  a  charge  of  treason,  and  he  was  blamed 
by  the  Federalists  for  his  apparent  anxiety  to  procure  his 
conviction.  International  questions  about  the  loss  of 
foreign  trade,  Napoleon's  blockading  European  ports, 
and  the  right  of  search  caused  much  commotion  during 
the  President's  second  term  ;  but  it  was  materially  abated 
when  he  retired  from  office,  and  closed  his  political  life. 
The  next  seventeen  years  he  spent  tranquilly  at  Monti- 
cello,  looking  after  the  interests  of  his  large  plantation, 
receiving  his  friends  and  admirers,  and  founding,  near 
Charlottesville,  the  Central  Col  logo,  now  known  as  the 
University  of  Virginia.  Several  years  before  his  death, 
he  became  embarrassed  by  his  exceeding  generosity, 
especially  in  the  way  of  indiscriminate  hospitality.  He 
breathed  his  last  July  4th,  in  his  eighty-fourth  year,  his 
mind  and  all  his  faculties  remaining  clear  to  the  end. 

Xo  American,  unless  it  be  Washington,  has  exorcised 
a  greater  or  more  endearing  influence  on  his  country  and 


LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS.  419 

countrymen.  He  was  an  original  thinker,  a  thorough 
reformer,  and  a  genuine  democrat.  In  theology,  he  was 
what  is  styled  a  deist ;  in  politics,  he  was  inimical  to 
strong  government,  always  maintaining  that  the  world 
was  governed  in  excess.  He  believed  implicitly  in  State 
Rights  and  the  power  and  wisdom  of  the  people.  His 
life-long  repugnance  to  Hamilton  arose  from  the  con- 
viction that  he  favored  a  monarchy  in  the  United  States. 
Many  of  his  political  views  were  moderated  as  he  grew 
older,  but  socially  he  was  an  uncompromising  and  un- 
varying democrat.  He  disrelished  all  titles  of  honor, 
objecting  even  to  the  common,  though  meaningless, 
"  Mr."  While  he  never  made  a  formal  public  speech, 
he  was  an  expert  politician,  and  a  masterly  manager  of 
men  and  shaper  of  events.  He  regarded  slavery  as  a 
positive  evil,  morally  and  politically,  though  he  did  not 
favor  any  change  in  the  agricultural  system  of  the 
Southern  States.  He  was  a  devoted  husband,  a  tender 
father,  a  gentle  master,  and  a  warm-hearted  friend.  He 
was  more  than  six  feet  high ;  he  had  a  muscular,  well- 
knit  frame,  a  pleasant  face  with  a  fair  ruddy  complexion, 
light  hazel  eyes  and  reddish  hair.  His  voice  was  agree- 
able, his  conversation  intellectual,  fresh,  and  eloquent, 
and  his  companionship  delightful.  His  reputation  has 
not  been  impaired,  but  rather  increased  in  the  fifty- 
eight  years  that  have  passed  since  his  death,  and  he  will 
always  be  honored  as  one  of  the  ablest  and  noblest  of  the 
fathers  of  the  Republic. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 


JAMKS  MADISOX,  JAMKS  MONROE,  AND  JOHN 
(•riNVY  ADAMS,  FOURTH,  FIFTH,  AND 
SIXTH  PRESIDENTS  OF  Till]  UNITED 
STATES. 

Conciliatory  Character  of  Madison's  Administration. — His  Opin- 
ions on  the  Federal  Government. — His  Charming  Wife. — Decline  ami 
Death  of  Federalism. — Monroe's  Election  Almost  Unanimous. — 
His  Gallant  Service  in  the  Field. — Wounded  at  Trenton.— Tin  Km 
of  Good  Feel  i  111?. — Monroe's  Views  of  Coercion. — Bitter  Disputes 
with  Great  Britain  Leading  to  the  War  of  1812.— The  Fifth  1'resi- 
dent's  Successful  Efforts  to  Restore  the  Public  Credit. — He  Dies  In- 
volved in  Debt. — Adams'  Early  Advantages  and  Experiences. — His 
Honorable  and  Distinguished  Career  in  the  House. 

JAMES  MADISON. 

The  Maclisons  were  among  the  first  emigrants  from 
Great  Britain  to  the  Colonies,  having  disembarked  on 
the  shores  of  Chesapeake  Bay  very  soon  after  the  settle- 
ment of  Jamestown.  James  Madison,  the  fourth  Presi- 
dent, the  son  of  Eleanor  Conway  and  James  Madison,  of 
Orange  County  ,Va.,  a  prosperous  planter  of  high  standing, 

was  born,  March  16,  1751,  on  the  paternal  estate,  named 

(420) 


THE  CABINET  ROOM. 
INSIDE  THE  WHITE  HOUSE.— WASHINGTON, 


LIVES  OF  THE   PRESIDENTS.  421 

Montpelier,  and  was  the  eldest  of  seven  children.  He 
was  sent,  after  a  preliminary  education,  to  Princeton,  N. 
J.,  where  he  was  graduated  at  twenty,  though  he  re- 
mained there  another  year  to  pursue  a  course  of  general 
reading  under  the  direction  of  the  president  of  the 
college.  His  application  to  books  was  so  close  as  to 
impair  his  health,  which  continued  delicate  through  life. 
After  returning  home  he  studied  law,  combining  it  with 
other  studies,  theology,  philosophy,  and  literature  in 
particular,  thus  enriching  a  naturally  fine  mind.  He 
appears  to  have  had  a  strong  leaning  to  Orthodoxy — an 
inclination  of  the  time — and  to  have  been  deeply  inter- 
ested in  discovering,  so  far  as  possible,  the  evidences  of 
Christianity.  He  might  have  passed  years  in  such 
grateful  occupations,  had  he  not  been  gradually  drawn 
into  public  affairs.  At  twenty-five  he  was  chosen  a 
member  of  the  Virginia  Convention,  but  was  defeated  the 
year  following,  because  he  refused  to  "treat"  the  voters, 
— treating  was  then  a  universal  custom  in  the  common- 
wealth,— and  because  he  showed  no  oratorical  powers. 
In  1779  he  was  elected  to  the  General  Congress,  and  re- 
tained his  seat  for  three  years,  strongly  opposing  the 
issue  of  paper  money  by  the  States. 

From  that  time  he  became  a  most  conspicuous  figure 
in  political  events ;  he  was  reflected  in  1786,  and  was 
also  a  member  the  next  year  of  the  National  Convention, 
which  met  in  Philadelphia  to  frame  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States.  He  warmly  advocated  its  adoption 


422  LIVES   OP  THE   PRESIDENTS. 

in  debate,  and  by  a  series  of  essays,  afterward  published 
in  the  Federalist,  the  joint  production  of  Madison,  Ham- 
ilton, and  Jay.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Con- 
vention, which,  in  1788,  after  a  passionate  discussion, 
adopted  the  Federal  Constitution  by  a  small  majority. 
The  year  following  he  entered  Congress,  taking  sides 
with  the  Republicans  in  opposition  to  the  political  views 
of  Washington  and  the  financial  measures  of  Hamilton. 
He  was  not  a  partisan,  however;  his  words  and  acts 
were  moderate,  all  his  efforts  being  directed  toward  tho 
reconciliation  of  party  leaders.  Much  attached  to  Wash- 
ington and  Hamilton,  he  disliked  exceedingly  to  differ 
from  them;  but  he  was  so  amiable*  and  kind-hearted  that 
their  differences  never  affected  his  personal  feelings. 
His  views  concerning  the  Federal  Government  are  pre- 
served in  the  autograph  of  Washington,  which  contains 
the  substance  of  a  letter  written  to  him  by  Madison,  ad- 
verse to  a  plan  of  complete  centralization.  He  is  equally  op- 
posed to  the  "  individual  independence  of  the  States,"  and 
to  the  "  consolidation  of  the  whole  into  one  simple  Repub- 
lic." But  he  favored  giving  to  Congress  the  power  to  exer- 
cise a  negative  in  all  cases  whatever  on  the  legislative  acts 
of  the  States,  as  heretofore  exercised  by  the  kingly  pre- 
rogative. He  believes  that  "•  the  right  of  coercion  should 
be  expressly  declared ;  but  the  difficulty  and  awkward- 
of  operating  by  force  on  the  collective  will  of  a 
State  renders  it  particularly  desirable  that  the  necessity 
of  it  should  be  precluded."  He  afterwards  materially 


LIVES   OP  THE  PKESIDENTS.  423 

altered  these  views,  though  he  cherished  and  expressed 
them,  earnestly  in  the  Philadelphia  Convention. 

At  forty-three  he  married  Mrs.  Dorothy  Todd,  a  Vir- 
ginian, lovely,  amiable,  and  accomplished,  the  widow  of  a 
Philadelphia  lawyer.  She  was  constantly  spoken  of  as 
the  fascinating  Dolly  Madison.  Their  marriage  was 
entirely  harmonious ;  but  they  had  no  children.  It  is 
generally  supposed  that  eminent  men  desire  sons,  at  least, 
to  perpetuate  their  name  and  fame,  though  the  sons  of 
eminent  men  seldom  distinguish  themselves.  The  early 
Presidents  were  not  fortunate  in  this.  "Washington  was 
childless ;  so  was  Madison  and  Jackson,  and  Jefferson 
had  two  daughters  only. 

At  forty-two  he  declined  the  Secretaryship  of  State, 
vacated  by  Jefferson,  but  remained  in  Congress  until  he 
was  forty-six.  He  was  adverse  to  the  Alien  and  Sedition 
Laws,  and  he  wrote  the  Resolutions  of  1798,  as  they  were 
called,  inveighing  against  all  attempts  to  augment  the 
power  of  the  Federal  Government  by  strained  construc- 
tions of  general  clauses  of  the  Constitution.  Appointed 
Secretary  of  State  by  Jefferson  in  1801,  he  filled  the 
office  for  eight  years  in  a  manner  entirely  acceptable  to 
his  fellow-citizens.  In  1808  he  was  made  President, 
receiving  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  out  of  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  electoral  votes ;  the  Federal  candi- 
date, Charles  C.  Piiickney,  receiving  forty-seven.  During 
his  first  term  the  country  had  numberless  acrimonious 
disputes  with  Great  Britain  on  account  of  her  impressing 


424  LIVES   OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

American  seamen,  searching  American  vessels  for  de- 
serters, and  injuring  the  national  commerce  by  orders 
in  council.  As  no  redress  could  be  had,  these  continued 
outrages  led  to  a  declaration  of  war  on  our  part — the  war 
of  1812,  as  it  is  commonly  called.  In  the  autumn  of  the 
same  year,  Madison  was  reelected  against  De  Witt  Clin- 
ton, getting  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  electoral  votes 
from  the  Slave  States,  added  to  Vermont,  Pennsylvania, 
and  Ohio.  The  war,  very  unpopular  in  many  quarters, 
was  continued  for  two  years  and  seven  months,  when  a 
treaty  of  peace  was  signed  at  Client.  Commodore  Perry 
gained  a  naval  battle  on  Lake  Erie ;  a  small  British 
force  ascended  the  Chesapeake,  and  by  a  sudden  move- 
ment burned  Washington;  the  battles  of  Chippewa  and 
Lundy's  Lane  were  fought  in  Canada,  and  Jackson  won 
the  memorable  victory  at  New  Orleans,  January  8, 1815 
— the  news  of  the  peace  not  having  then  reached  these 
shores.  On  the  4th  of  March,  1817,  he  retired  from 
public  life,  to  Montpelier,  where  he  died  in  his  eiuhty- 
sixth  year.  His  last  appearance  in  public  was  in  the 
Virginia  Convention,  assembled  in  1829,  to  reform  the  old 
Constitution.  He  was  quite  feeble  then ;  he  was  dressed 
in  black,  his  thin  gray  hair  still  powdered,  and  he  spoke 
in  so  low  a  tone  that  the  members  were  obliged  to  leave 
their  seats  and  stand  near  him  to  hear  his  words. 

Not  possessed  of  the  orator's  gift,  he  was  yet  an  effec- 
tive speaker  through  his  honesty,  simplicity,  and  direct- 
ness, and  wielded  great  influence  in  debate.  He  was 


LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS.  425 

universally  esteemed  and  loved  ;  his  manners  were  always 
gentle  and  winning;  his  reputation  was  without  a  spot. 

JAMES  MONROE. 

Like  all  his  predecessors,  James  Monroe  belonged  to 
the  aristocratic  class  of  Virginia,  the  well-educated, 
highly-connected,  refined,  and  prosperous.  He  was  born 
on  his  father's  plantation,  in  Westmoreland  County,  Ya., 
April  28, 1758,  being  descended  on  the  paternal  side 
from  an  officer  in  the  army  of  Charles  I.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  William  and  Mary  College,  but  had  been  there 
only  two  years,  when  the  adoption  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  so  fired  his  soul  that  he  determined  to  join 
our  feeble  militia  against  the  trained  soldiers  of  England. 
He  went  to  Washington's  headquarters  in  New  York, 
and  enrolled  himself  as  a  cadet.  Our  ill-fed,  ill-clothed 
troops  were  disheartened,  and  the  Tories  were  very 
arrogant,  as  defeat  followed  defeat  to  the  Continental 
cause.  Young  Monroe  was  as  chivalrous  as  he  was 
patriotic ;  he  fought  heroically ;  was  active  as  a  lieu- 
tenant in  the  campaign  on  the  Hudson ;  was  wounded 
in  the  attack  on  Trenton,  and  made  a  Captain  for  his 
gallantry.  As  aide  to  Lord  Stirling  with  the  rank  of 
major,  he  distinguished  himself  at  Brandywine,  German- 
town,  and  Monmouth. 

Thus  losing  his  rank  in  the  regular  line,  and  unable  to 
reenter  the  army  as  a  commissioned  officer,  he  went  back 


426  LIVES   OP  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

to  Virginia,  and  began  studying  law  under  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson, then  Governor  D£  the  State.  After  the  British 
had  invaded  Virginia,  he  did  what  he  could  to  organize 
the  militia  of  the  lower  counties,  and  when  they  moved 
southward,  he  was  sent  as  military  commissioner  to 
South  Carolina.  In  1782  he  was  elected  to  the  Assembly 
of  Virginia,  and  was  made  a  member  of  the  Executive 
Council  at  twenty-three.  Having  been  chosen  delegate 
to  Congress,  and  being  persuaded  that  the  country  could 
not  be  governed  under  the  old  articles  of  confederation, 
he  favored  an  extension  of  the  powers  of  the  body,  and 
proposed,  later,  that  it  should  have  authority  to  regulate 
trade  between  the  States.  This  led  to  the  convention  at 
Annapolis,  and  afterward  to  the  adoption  of  the  Federal 
Constitution.  Monroe  formed  an  ingenious  plan  for  set- 
tling the  public  lands,  and  was  a  valuable  member  of  the 
commission  to  determine  the  boundary  between  Massa- 
chusetts and  New  York. 

At  twenty-seven  he  married  the  daughter  of  Lawrence 
Kortright  of  New  York,  a  noted  belle  and  social  leader, 
and  settled  at  Fredericksburg,  Va.  As  a  member  of  the 
Convention  of  Virginia  in  1788,  he  was  against  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  because  it  gave,  as  lie 
thought,  too  much  power  to  the  general  government. 
f  His  course  placed  him  in  the  ranks  of  the  Republicans 
who  were  instrumental  in  sending  him  for  four  years  to 
the  national  Senate.  In  1794  he  svas  appointed  Minister 


LIVES  OF  THE  PEESIDENTS.  427 

to  France,  but  having  offended  the  native  government 
by  his  open  sympathy  with  the  French  republicans,  he 
was  recalled  after  two  years.  After  having  been  Gov- 
ernor of  Virginia  for  three  years,  he  went  to  France  as 
envoy-extraordinary  to  unite  with  the  resident  Minister, 
Edward  Livingston,  in  arranging  for  the  purchase  of 
Louisiana,  which  embraced  the  entire  valley  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, and  which  was  sold  by  Bonaparte  for  f>  15,000,000. 
After  performing  other  diplomatic  missions  abroad,  he 
returned  home  in  1808,  and  spent  two  years  in  retire- 
ment. In  1811,  he  was  again  chosen  Governor  of  Vir- 
ginia. The  same  year  he  was  appointed  Secretary  of 
State  by  President  Madison,  and  after  the  capture  of 
Washington,  he  took  the  head  of  the  War  Department, 
without  resigning  his  former  office.  He  labored  long  and 
successfully  to  restore  the  public  credit,  and  improve  the 
condition  of  the  army,  pledging  his  private  fortune  to 
the  former  end.  He  continued  to  act  as  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  until  the  close  of  Madison's  administration ; 
he  was  the  President's  private  adviser  in  many  things, 
and  was  then  chosen  as  his  successor  by  the  party  who 
called  themselves  Democratic  Republicans.  Soon  after 
he  traveled  through  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States,  in 
the  undress  uniform  of  a  Continental  officer,  inspecting 
arsenals,  fortifications,  garrisons,  reviewing  troops,  and 
closely  studying  the  military  capability  of  the  country. 
He  was  much  liked  personally  and  politically  ;  party 


428  LIVES  OP   THE   PRESIDENTS. 

rancor,  which  had  been  so  fierce,  was  almost  extinguished, 
and  the  time  was  spoken  of  as  the  Era  of  Good  Feeling. 
During  his  first  term,  Maine,  Illinois,  and  Mississippi  were 
admitted  into  the  Union ;  a  convention  was  concluded 
between  this  country  and  England  concerning  the  New- 
foundland fisheries,  and  other  matters  of  importance,  and 
lvi-t  ami  West  Florida,  with  the  adjacent  islands,  was 
ceded  by  Spain  to  the  United  States. 

In  1820,  Monroe  was  reflected  almost  unanimously, 
the  Federal  party  having  become  extinct.  The  next  year 
Missouri  was  taken  into  the  confederacy  after  a  long  and 
exciting  debate,  resulting  in  the  famous  Missouri  Com- 
promise, by  which  slavery  was  allowed  in  that  State,  but 
forever  prohibited  elsewhere,  north  of  the  parallel  36° 
30'.  What  is  now  known  as  the  Monroe  Doctrine  was 
announced  in  his  message  of  December  2,  1823,  on  the 
policy  of  our  not  interfering  with  the  affairs  of  Europe, 
and  not  allowing  Europe  to  interfere  with  those  of  the 
Western  Continent.  He  said  that  any  attempt  on  the 
part  of  the  Old  World  States  to  extend  their  system  to 
any  portion  of  this  hemisphere  would  be  regarded  by  us 
as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and  safety,  and  would  be 
strenuously  resisted.  At  the  close  of  his  administration, 
he  retired  to  Oak  Hill,  London  County,  Virginia.  He 
was  afterward  made  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  at 
seventy-one  became  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Conven- 
tion to  revise  the  old  Constitution.  He  was  chosen  to 


LIVES    OF   THE   PRESIDENTS.  429 

preside  over  that  body  ;  but  ill  health  prevented,  and  he 
went  back  to  Oak  Hill.  In  his  last  years  he  was  troubled 
with  debt,  notwithstanding  that  he  had  received  for  his 
public  services  more  than  6350,000.  His  wife  died 
before  him,  and  then  he  removed  to  New  York,  to  the 
residence  of  his  son-in-law,  Samuel  L.  Gouverneur,  where 
he  expired  at  the  age  of  seventy-three.  He  was  singu- 
larly discreet,  single-minded,  and  patriotic,  and  did  more 
than  any  of  his  predecessors  to  develop  the  resources  of 
the  Republic.  He  was  tall,  well-proportioned,  of  fair 
complexion  and  blue  eyes,  and  his  face  was  a  reflection 
of  his  pure  and  benevolent  nature. 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS. 

John  Quincy  Adams  is  the  only  instance  in  the  Repub- 
lic of  a  son  succeeding  his  father  as  President ;  he  being 
the  sixth  and  John  Adams  the  second.  As  the  eldest 
son,  he  had  rare  and  exceptional  opportunities  for  edu- 
cation. In  childhood  he  was  taught  by  his  mother,  a 
grand-daughter  of  Col.  John  Quincy,  and  a  woman  of 
superior  mind.  When  but  eleven,  he  went  to  France 
with  his  father,  and  attended  school  in  Paris,  making 
much  progress  in  the  native  language  and  other  studies. 
Two  years  later,  he  again  accompanied  his  father  to 
Europe,  and  took  a  course  at  the  University  of  Leyden. 
At  fourteen,  he  was  appointed  private  secretary  to  Francis 
Dana,  Minister  to  Russia,  remained  fourteen  months  in 


430  LIVES   OF  THE   PRESIDENTS. 

St.  Petersburg,  and  then  traveled  leisurely  through 
Scandinavia  and  Denmark  to  Holland,  where  he  resumed 
his  studies  at  the  Hague.  He  came  home  to  finish  his 
education  and  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  his  twenty- 
first  year.  Admitted  to  the  bar  in  1791,  he  began  to 
practice  in  Boston.  His  first  publications  were  a  number 
of  essays  in  journals  of  that  city,  pointing  out  the  whim- 
seys  and  sophistries  of  radical  French  politicians,  and 
declaring  that  the  country  should  be  strictly  neutral  in 
the  war  between  France  and  England.  They  attracted 
wide  attention,  and  commended  him  to  Washington,  who 
appointed  him  Minister  to  Holland  in  1794,  having 
formed  a  most  elevated  opinion  of  his  character  and 
capacities.  At  thirty,  lie  espoused  Louisa  Catherine 
Johnson,  a  daughter  of  Joshua  Johnson,  of  Maryland, 
then  Consul  at  London.  He  was  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate  for  the  term  beginning  March,  1803,  and 
two  years  after  was  appointed  professor  of  rhetoric  and 
belles-lettres  at  Harvard,  accepting  the  place  only  on 
condition  that  he  should  perform  his  senatorial  duties 
while  Congress  was  in  session.  He  offended  the  Feder- 
alists, with  whom  he  had  been  allied,  by  sustaining  Jef- 
ferson's embargo  act,  and  from  that  cause  went  over  to 
the  Democrats,  or  National  Republicans,  as  they  preferred 
to  call  themselves.  He  resigned  his  scat  in  the  Senate, 
being  unwilling  to  obey  the  will  of  the  Federalists, 
then  in  the  majority  of  Massachusetts,  and  angered  them 


LIVES   OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  431 

greatly  by  accusing  some  of  their  leaders  of  having 
formed  a  plot  to  dissolve  the  Union,  and  set  up  a  North- 
ern Confederacy.  This  accusation  is  thought  to  have 
been  one  of  the  most  potent  causes  of  the  enmity  and 
suspicion  so  long  cherished  toward  New  England  by  the 
Southern  and  other  States. 

Adams  became  conspicuous  in  the  Senate  as  an  able 
debater  and  a  finished  scholar,  and  in  1809  was  sent  by 
Madison  to  Russia,  where  he  originated  the  friendly  feel- 
ing which  has  ever  since  been  maintained  between  that 
power  and  our  own.  In  1813,  he  was  one  of  the  com- 
missioners to  negotiate  a  treaty  with  Great  Britain  at 
Ghent,  and  performed  his  part  with  signal  ability. 
Going  to  England  in  a  ministerial  capacity  in  1815,  he 
stayed  there  for  two  years,  when  he  returned  to  fill  the 
office  of  Secretary  of  State,  under  Monroe.  He  dis- 
charged its  duties  as  satisfactorily  as  he  had  those  of 
diplomacy.  In  1824,  Adams,  Jackson,  Crawford,  and 
Clay,  all  substantially  having  the  same  politics,  that  of 
the  Democrats,  were  candidates  for  the  Presidency. 
Adams  received  eighty-four  electoral  votes,  Jackson 
ninety-nine,  Crawford  forty-one,  and  Clay  thirty-seven, 
which  rendered  it  necessary  for  the  House  of  Represent- 
atives to  decide  the  question.  Clay  threw  all  his  influ- 
ence in  favor  of  Adams,  and  secured  his  choice.  As  the 
President  appointed  Clay  Secretary  of  State,  Jackson 
and  his  supporters  charged  the  Keutuckian  with  corrupt 
18 


432       •  LIVES    OF   THK    I'll KSI DENTS. 

motives,  and  imputed  to  the  President  a  Lack  of  integ- 
rity. Although  there  is  no  good  reason  for  believing 
those  charges,  they  probably  had  much  weight  in  defeat- 
ing  him  for  a  second  term,  when  he  received  only  eighty- 
three  votes  out  of  two  hundred  and  sixty-one.  Adams 
favored  internal  improvements,  the  protection  of  homo 
manufactures,  and  was  principled  against  removing  men 
from  ollice  merely  for  difference  of  political  views. 
March  4,  1829,  he  retired  to  Quincy,  .Mass.,  formerly 
called  Braintree,  where  he  had  been  born  July  11,  1707, 
nearly  sixty-two  years  before.  The  next  year  lie  was 
sent  to  Congress,  to  the  surprise  of  everybody,  because 
previous  Presidents  had  never  been  willing  to  return  to 
Washington  in  any  political  capacity.  He  continued  in 
the  House  of  Representatives  for  seventeen  years,  show- 
ing more  ability  and  gaining  more  reputation  than  ever 
before.  He  was  generally  regarded  as  a  model  legislator, 
no  one  surpassing  him  in  application  and  powers  of 
endurance,  not  to  speak  of  talents  and  learning.  While 
he  generally  sided  with  the  Whigs,  he  was  independent 
in  his  opinions  and  conduct.  He  won  most  renown  by  his 
defense  of  the  right  of  petition  and  his  unyielding  oppo- 
sition to  what  he  denounced  as  the  constant  encroach- 
ments of  the  slave  power.  Although  the  House  had 
adopted  a  rule  that  no  petition  bearing  on  slavery  should 
be  read,  printed  or  debated,  Adams  persisted  in  present- 
ing such  petitions,  one  by  one,  sometimes  to  the  number 


LIVES   OP  THE   PRESIDENTS.  433 

of  two  hundred  in  a  day,  and  demanding  action  on  each 
separate  petition.  The  most  violent  anger,  menace,  and 
abuse  from  the  Southerners  never  moved  him  from  his 
conscientious  course,  and  his  coolness,  under  the  circum- 
stances, only  added  to  and  intensified  their  vituperative 
wrath.  He  died  at  his  post  of  an  attack  of  paralysis, 
February  23,  1848,  aged  eighty,  his  last  words  being,  "  I 
am  content." 

John  Quincy  Adams  was  more  scholarly  than  his 
father,  but  not  his  equal  in  native  force  of  intellect.  He 
wrote  fluently  and  copiously,  but  his  style  was  verbose 
and  inflated,  wholly  inferior  to  John  Adams's  simple, 
strong,  idiomatic  English.  They  were  Unitarians ;  they 
resembled  one  another  in  appearance  as  well  as  in  energy, 
firmness,  and  unwavering  courage,  and  both  had  passion- 
ate tempers  and  hot  prejudices.  They  were  eminently 
representatives  of  New  England,  and  despite  their  faults, 
many  though  not  grievous,  they  were  of  sturdy  stuff  and 
an  honor  to  American  history. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


ANDREW  JACKSON,  MARTIN  VAN  BUREN,  AND 
W.M.  IIKNIJV  IIARHISON,  SKVENTII,  KICIITH, 
AND  NINTH  PRESIDENTS  OF  Till-:  UNITED 
STATES. 

Jackson,  the  First  Unmixed  Democrat. — His  F.lectimi  Keiranlcd  in 
Virginia  and  Massachusetts  with  Surprise  and  Pi-trust. — His  l"n- 
couth  and  Untanirht  Youth. — His  Chivalrous  Delicacy  JTowanl 
Women. — His  Morbid  Sensibility  about  his  Wife's  Imputation. — His 
Combats  with  Indians.  — Various  Kccounlers  and  Duels. — The  ller- 
initaire. — The  Sominole  War. — Battle  of  New  Orleans. — His  Deter 
mination  to  Ilan.ir  the  Xullitiers. — Honest.  Single  minded,  and  Pat- 
riotic.— Van  Buren  as  Democrat  and  Free -soiler. — His  Contented  Old 
Ap'. — Harrison  as  an  Indian  Fighter. — The  Log  Cabin  Campaign. 

ANDREW  JACKSON. 

A  greater  difference  than  that  l>etween  Andrew  Jack- 
son and  his  Presidential  predecessors  can  not  well  be  con- 
ceived. Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe,  and 
the  Adamses,  had  all  been  men  of  education,  refinement, 
breeding,  accustomed  to  good  society  and  polite  usages. 
Jackson  was  an  illiterate,  untrained,  rustic,  violent  man, 
whose  life,  spent  in  a  semi-civilized  region,  had  been 
marked  by  savage  personal  combats  and  many  disgrace- 
ful scenes.  His  choice  as  Chief  Executive  denotes  a 

(434) 


LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS.  435 

new  era  in  politics,  a  great  change  in  public  sentiment. 
It  is  easy  to  understand  with  what  surprise,  pain,  and 
disgust  the  gentlemen  of  Virginia  and  Massachusetts, 
the  two  States  that  exercised  the  most  influence  on  the 
young  Republic,  must  have  regarded  the  election  to  the 
Presidency  of  a  military  chieftain,  backwoodsman,  cock- 
fighter,  and  tyrant,  who  had  never  shown  respect  for  law, 
or  recognized  any  authority  but  his  despotic  will.  Jack- 
son was,  indeed,  the  first  unmixed  Democrat,  politically 
and  socially,  that  had  been  placed  in  the  highest  position 
of  trust  and  pow<  r.  It  was  the  beginning  of  an  epoch, 
which  opened  a  new  volume  of  the  national  history. 

Andrew  Jackson,  the  seventh  President,  was  of  Scotch' 
Irish  extraction,  and  born  in  what  was  known  as  the 
Waxhaw  Settlement,  N.  C.,  so  near  the  line  that  he 
always  supposed  himself  a  native  of  South  Carolina.  He 
bore  the  full  name  of  his  father,  a  very  poor  man  who 
came  to  this  country  in  1765,  and  never  struggled  out  of 
penury.  His  mother,  Elizabeth  Hutchinson,  of  very 
humble  origin,  brought  him  into  the  world  some  days 
after  his  father's  death,  under  very  hard  and  most 
depressing  circumstances.  He  was  the  youngest  of  three 
boys,  whom  their  mother  reared  as  best  she  could,  in  a 
common  cabin  in  which  she  lived  with  her  brother-in- 
law,  doing  the  hard  work  of  the  house,  while  his  wife, 
her  sister,  was  incapacitated  from  labor  by  permanent 
invalidism.  Andrew,  or  Andy,  as  he  was  commonly 
called,  greatly  loved  and  revered  his  mother,  who  died 


436  l.IVHS    OF    THE 

when  he  was  a  youth,  leaving  him  literally  alone  in  the 
world,  and  a  very  hard  part  of  the  world  in  those  days, 
was  the  Wa. \ha\v  Settlement.  I le  mourned  her  deeply, 
and  in  after  life  often  referred  tenderly  to  her  virtues. 
One  of  his  best  traits  was  his  inherent  and  unvarying 
respect  for  women,  toward  whom  he  ever  conducted  him- 
self with  ehivalrous  delicacy,  not  to  he  expected  in  a  man 
of  such  antecedents,  and  of  so  impetuous  and  turbulent 
a  disposition.  He  grew  up  wild,  homely,  awkward,  pro- 
fane, quarrelsome,  overbearing,  fond  of  physical  exercise, 
and  with  no  more  instruction  than  enabled  him  to  rend, 
write  a  very  indifferent  hand — he  never  learned  to  spell, 
— and  master  rudimentary  arithmetic. 

Jackson  was  only  fourteen  when  he  first  fought  against 
the  British.  His  elder  brother  Hugh  had  already  died  of 
heat  and  exhaustion  at  the  battle  of  Stono.  having  gone 
forth  in  a  company  of  volunteers  to  attack  Tarlcton. 
Andrew  and  Robert,  his  other  brother,  were  zealous 
"Whigs,  and  having  been  taken  prisoners  by  the  enemy, 
were  both  seriously  wounded  by  a  brutal  English  officer, 
whose  boots  they  had  refused  to  clean.  They  caught  the 
small-pox  while  in  captivity,  and  were  exchanged  by  the 
exertions  of  their  mother,  who  took  them  home,  where 
Robert  died  of  the  disease.  She  soon  after  went  to 
Charleston,  to  take  care  of  the  sick  and  wounded  Amer- 
icans, and  fell  a  victim  to  ship-fever.  Andrew,  com- 
pelled literally  to  earn  his  bread,  worked  in  a  saddler's 


LIVES   OP   THE   PRESIDENTS.  437 

shop,  and  taught  school,  which  must  have  been  of  a 
queer  sort,  if  he  could  teach  it.  At  seventeen,  he  began 
the  study  of  law  at  Salisbury,  N.  C.,  but  was  more  inter- 
ested in  cock-fighting,  horse-racing,  card-playing,  and  all 
rude  sports,  than  in  his  studies.  He  was  called  a  very 
hard  case,  though  he  had  many  redeeming  traits,  chief 
among  them  being  hatred  of  oppression  and  love  of 
justice.  At  twenty,  he  was  licensed  to  practice,  and  the 
next  year  was  appointed  public  prosecutor  of  the  western 
district  of  the  State,  now  Tennessee.  He  went  to  Nash- 
ville immediately,  and  entered  upon  his  duties,  gaining 
many  clients,  and  serving  them  faithfully.  That  was  a 
wild  region  then,  and  his  constant  travel  was  done  at  the 
risk  of  his  life.  But  he  feared  neither  Indians  nor  any- 
thing else,  and  he  had  so  many  narrow  escapes  that  his 
rude  neighbors  thought  him  danger-proof. 

At  twenty-four,  he  took  for  wife  Mrs.  Rachel  Rob- 
ards,  daughter  of  Col.  John  Donelson,  of  Virginia,  one 
of  the  pioneers  of  Tennessee,  after  whom  was  named 
Fort  Donelson,  captured  by  General  Grant  the  second 
year  of  the  Civil  War.  Mrs.  Robards  and  her  first  hus- 
band were  boarding  with  Mrs.  Donelson,  then  a  widow, 
when  Jackson  reached  Tennessee,  and  became  a  boarder 
under  the  same  roof.  Mrs.  Robards  was,  in  a  frontier 
way,  vivacious  and  sportive,  a  rattling  talker  and  a  fine 
rider.  Her  husband,  suspicious  and  morose,  was  very 
jealous  of  her,  and  made  her  very  unhappy.  Jackson 


438  LIVES   OF   THE    PRESIDENTS. 

•was  fond  of  her  society,  thonirh  he  in  no  manner  passed 
the  boundaries  of  the  most  conventional  decorum.  Her 
husband  believed,  or  pretended  to  believe,  that  he  was 
his  wife's  lover,  and  applied  to  the  Virginia  Legislature 
for  an  act  preliminary  to  divorce.  Jackson  and  Mrs. 
Robards  supposed  the  act  itself  a  divorce,  and  they  were 
married  two  years  before  divorce  had  been  allowed. 
This  innocent  mistake  (they  were  married  again  when  it 
was  discovered)  was  the  source  of  endless  annoyance 
and  sorrow  to  the  second  husband,  who,  to  the  day  o[ 
his  death,  was  so  sensitive  and  fiery  on  the  subject  that, 
if  any  man  hinted  at  any  impropriety  in  their  relations, 
he  was  certain  to  be  called  to  account  by  Jackson,  pistol 
in  hand.  Indeed,  lie  was  little  less  than  a  monomaniac 
in  regard  to  his  wife.  Several  of  his  most  savage  con- 
flicts grew,  directly  or  indirectly,  out  of  what  he  believed 
or  imagined  to  be  reflections  on  her  fair  fame.  If  ever 
a  man  was  connubially  mad,  that  man  was  Andrew 
Jackson.  Mrs.  Robards  was  an  honest  and  worthy, 
though  an  uneducated  and  very  ordinary  sort  of  woman  ; 
but  he  fancied  her  to  be  a  goddess,  an  angel,  a  saint,  a 
creature  entirely  apart  and  above  humanity,  and .  he 
wanted  to  kill  anybody  who  dared  express  any  other 
opinion. 

Much  of  Jackson's  early  life  in  Tennessee  was  spent 
in  fighting  the  Indians  and  his  private  enemies,  of  whom 
he  always  had  a  host.  He  was  one  of  the  most  irascible 


LIVES   OP   THE   PRESIDENTS.  439 

and  pugnacious  of  mortals,  and  his  ire,  aroused  by  the 
slightest  cause,  was  deadly.  Possessed  of  many  gener- 
ous and  noble  qualities,  he  was  often  in  his  resentments 
no  better  than  a  barbarian.  When  he  was  one  of  the 
judges  of  the  supreme  court  of  Tennessee,  John  Sevier 
was  governor.  They  had  quarreled,  and  Jackson  had 
challenged  the  governor  who  had  declined  the  challenge. 
Still  on  bad  terms,  they  met  one  day  in  the  streets  of 
Knoxville,  and  after  exchanging  a  few  words,  Sevier 
made  some  slighting  allusion  to  Mrs.  Jackson.  Her 
husband  roared  out,  "  Do  you  dare,  villain,  to  mention 
her  sacred  name  ?  "  And  whipping  out  a  pistol,  fired  at 
the  governor,  who  returned  the  shot.  They  fired  again, 
ineffectually,  and  then  bystanders  interfered.  Not  long 
after,  they  encountered  one  another  on  horseback  on  the 
road,  each  accompanied  by  a  friend.  Again  they  shot  at 
one  another,  the  friends  taking  part,  and  murder  would 
have  been  done,  had  not  some  travelers,  who  had  chanced 
to  come  up,  separated  the  combatants.  Jackson  had 
the  reputation  of  being  a  dead  shot ;  but  he  frequently 
missed  his  man.  owing  doubtless  to  the  excitement  of  the 
occasion. 

A  friend  of  Jackson,  William  Carroll,  having  chal- 
lenged Jesse  Benton,  a  younger  brother  of  Thomas  H. 
Benton,  Jackson  was  induced  to  act  as  his  second.  The 
principals  were  wounded,  Benton  seriously,  which  angered 
the  elder  Benton,  because  he  thought  Jackson  under 

18* 


440  LIVES    OP   THE    PRESIDENTS. 

obligations  to  him,  ami  prompted  him  to  say  such  things 
as  a  choleric  man  is  apt  to  say  of  anybody  who  has 
offended  him.  The  ahusivr  remarks  were  repeated  to 
Jackson,  and  he,  in  one  of  his  customary  bursts  of  pas- 
sion and  profanity,  declared  that  he  would  horsewhip 
Benton  the  first  time  he  should  see  him.  Hearing,  a 
few  weeks  after,  that  his  foe  was  at  the  City  Hotel  in 
Nashville,  he  sought  him  there  in  the  company  of  a 
friend.  Armed  with  pistols  and  a  small  sword,  he 
advanced  with  a  whip  in  his  hand,  on  Benton,  who  was 
standing  at  the  front  door,  -cry  near  his  brother  Jesse. 
'•  I'm  going  to  punish  you,  yon  blank — blank  villain,"  he 
cried;  "defend  yourself."'  Thomas  Benton  made  as  if 
to  draw  a  weapon;  his  adversary  pulled  a  pistol,  and 
leveled  it  at  his  breast.  Benton  retreated  slowly  through 
the  hall,  followed  closely  by  Jackson,  when  Jesse  Benton 
fired  at  the  latter  and  shattered  his  arm  and  shoulder. 
Lyinu'  helpless  and  bleeding  on  the  floor,  his  friend  dis- 
charged a  pistol  at  Thomas  Benton,  and  finding  lie  had 
missed  him,  hurried  forward,  and  was  about  to  strike 
him  with  the  butt,  when  Benton  stumbled  and  fell  to  the 
bottom  of  some  stairs  he  had  not  observed  at  the  end  of 
the  hall.  While  Jackson's  friend  was  looking  after  him, 
his  nephew  attacked  Jesse  Benton  with  a  bowie-knife, 
and  the  two  had  a  savage  and  bloody  encounter  until 
they  were  pulled  apart.  This  was  not  an  uncommon 
scene  in  the  Southwest  in  those  days;  nor  would  it  be 


LIVES   OF  THE   PRESIDENTS.  441 

very  uncommon  there  now.  Jackson  was  then -forty- 
seven  ;  had  been  a  member  of  Congress,  as  United  States 
Senator,  and  was  at  the  time  a  Major-General  of  militia. 
One  of  the  most  tragical  of  his  experiences  was  his 
duel,  some  years  before,  with  Charles  Dickinson,  who 
had  committed  the  unpardonable  sin  of  commenting 
freely  on  Mrs.  Jackson.  They  had  several  disagree- 
ments, and  Jackson  finally  spoke  of  Dickinson  in  so 
violent  a  manner  that  his  language  was  repeated,  as  the 
General  wished  it  should  be,  to  the  man  himself.  There- 
upon, Dickinson,  who  was  about  to  start  for  New 
Orleans  on  a  flat  boat,  wrote  Jackson  a  letter,  denouncing 
him  as  a  liar  and  a  coward.  On  his  return,  Jackson 
challenged  him,  and  they  met  on  the  banks  of  the  Red 
River  in  Logan  County,  Ky.,  early  in  the  morning  of 
May  30,  1806.  Dickinson  got  first  fire,  breaking  a  rib, 
and  making  a  serious  wound  in  the  breast  of  his  oppon- 
ent, who  showed  no  sign  of  having  been  hit.  He  had 
felt  sure  of  killing  his  antagonist,  and  exclaimed,  "  Great 
God,  have  I  missed  him  ?"  Jackson,  taking  deliberate  aim, 
pulled  the  trigger  ;  but  the  weapon  did  not  explode.  It 
stopped  at  half-cock.  He  cocked  it  fully,  and  again  calmly 
and  carefully  leveling  it,  fired.  The  bullet  passed  through 
Dickinson's  body,  just  above  the  hips:  he  fell,  and  died 
that  night  after  suffering  terrible  agony.  Jackson  never 
recovered  from  the  hurt,  and  never  expressed  the  least 
remorse  for  what  many  persons  pronounced  a  cold-blooded 


442  LIVES    OF    THE    rilE-IT>; 

murder.  There  is  no  doubt  that  he  had  made  up  his 
mind  to  kill  Dickinson.  Any  man  who  had  .spoken  dis- 
creditably of  Mrs.  Jackson  had,  in  his  opinion,  forfeited 
the  right  to  live. 

Not  long  after  his  marriage,  Jackson  removed  from 
Nashville  to  a  farm,  some  thirteen  miles  distant,  \\hich 
he  named  the  Hermitage,  where  he  died  in  his  seventy- 
ninth  year.  lie  lived  in  a  spacious  home,  and  had  for  a 
store  a  block  house,  where  he  sold  goods  to  the  Indians, 
and  the  settlers  in  the  neighborhood,  lie  did  a  profitable 
business — his  assistant  transacted  most  of  it — frequently 
sending  corn,  tobacco,  and  cotton,  which  lie  raised  on  his 
land,  with  the  assistance  of  his  slaves,  to  the  New  Or- 
lr:iiis  market.  He  had  no  abhorrence  of  slavery,  though 
he-  \vas  always  a  kind  and  considerate  master.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Convention  that  framed  the  Constitution  of 
Tennessee  in  1796,  and  was  elected  to  Congress  from  the 
new  State,  then  entitled  to  only  one  Representative.  The 
next  year,  he  was  sent  to  the  National  Senate,  but  soon 
resigned  his  seat.  He  acted  as  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  for  eight  years.  He  enlisted  in  the  war  of  1812  ; 
defeated  the  Creek  Indians,  acquiring  great  popularity 
thereby,  and  was  made  a  Major-General  in  the  regular 
army.  His  victory  at  New  Orleans  gave  him  a  great  rep- 
utation,  and  rendered  him  an  idol  of  the  people  of  the 
Southwest. 

In  1817-18,  he  carried  on  prosperous  war  against  the 


LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS.  443 

Seminoles  in  Florida,  seized  Pensacola  without  authority, 
as  was  his  wont,  and  hanged  two  British  subjects  for  in- 
citing the  Indians  to  hostile  acts.  It  was  a  great  sur- 
prise to  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States  when  he  received 
the  largest  number  of  votes  of  any  one  of  the  four  can- 
didates for  the  Presidency  in  1824.  After  Adams  had 
been  chosen  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  Jackson 
seemed  to  have  permanently  withdrawn  to  the  Hermitage ; 
but  all  the  opponents  of  Adams  supported  him  in  the 
next  campaign,  which  was  the  most  bitter  ever  known  in 
the  country,  and  he  was  triumphantly  elected.  His  two 
terms  were  stormy  enough.  His  veto  of  the  bill  granting 
a  new  charter  to  the  United  States  Bank  created  great 
excitement,  and  his  removal  of  the  public  deposits  cre- 
ated still  more.  His  proclamation  against  the  nullifiers  • 
of  South  Carolina  was  electric  in  its  effect,  and  that  he 
would  have  hanged  them,  as  he  afterward  said,  if  he  had 
had  cause  to,  is  altogether  probable.  While  he  was  with 
many  one  of  the  most  detested  Presidents  that  have  sat 
in  the  executive  chair,  he  was  extremely  popular  with  the 
masses.  Nor  can  it  be  denied  that  most  of  the  acts  for 
which  he  was  once  savagely  denounced  have  come  to  be 
generally  approved.  He  was  narrow,  ignorant,  overflow- 
ing with  passion  and  prejudice  ;  but  he  was,  nevertheless, 
honest,  single-minded,  and,  according  to  his  light,  a  true 
and  conscientious  patriot. 


444  LIVES  OF  THK  IMIMSIKKNTS. 

MARTIN    VAN    HU11KX. 

Martin  Van  Burcn,  the  eighth  President, largely  owed 
his  office  to  the  friendship  and  influence  of  General  Jack- 
son,  with  whom  lie  had  made  himself  a  particular  favorite. 
Born  at  Kinderhook,  N.  V..  December  5,  1782,  he  died 
near  tin-re  in  his  eightieth  year.  Kducated  at  the  local 
academy,  he  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  by 
the  time  he  was  nineteen.  He  began  very  early  to  take 
part  in  politics  as  a  Democrat,  and  at  thirty  was  elected 
to  the  State  Senate.  He  favored  the  war  of  1812,  and 
was  made  Attorney-General  of  New  York.  He  was  the 
ruling  spirit  of  the  Albany  Regency,  formed  to  oppose 
De  Witt  Clinton,  which  controlled  the  State  politically 
for  twenty  years.  Having  been  twice  chosen  United 
States  Senator,  he  resigned  his  position  to  enter  the 
Cabinet  of  Jackson.  He  was  nominated  Minister  to  Eng- 
land, and  went  there;  but  his  nomination  was  rejected 
by  the  Senate,  in  which  the  Whigs — the  name  taken  dur- 
ing the  previous  administration  by  the  opponents  of  Jack- 
son— had  then  a  majority.  To  indemnify  him  for  this 
mortification,  the  Democrats  made  him  Vice-President 
during  Jackson's  second  term.  At  its  termination,  "Van 
Buren  was  put  forward  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency 
against  Harrison,  a  Whig,  and  was  easily  elected.  The 
year  after — 1837 — there  was  a  great  financial  panic,  with 
an  extraordinary  commercial  depression,  and  in  May  of 
that  year  all  the  banks  in  the  country  suspended  specie 


LIVES   OP   THE   PRESIDENTS.  445 

payment.  Van  Burcn,  in  his  message,  recommended  an 
independent  treasury,  which  was  established  by  law  in 
1840.  All  his  political  friends  voted  for  the  resolution 
that  Congress  should  lay  all  petitions  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery  on  the  table  without  reading,  a  resolution  which, 
as  has  been  seen,  John  Quincy  Adams  gallantly  defied. 
In  1840  he  was  renominated  against  his  former  com- 
petitor "Harrison ;  but  he  was  so  assailed  by  the  Whig 
newspapers  and  orators  as  responsible  for  the  commercial 
prostration  and  monetary  distress  incident  to  his  term  of 
office,  and  so  charged  with  extravagance,  corruption,  and 
indifference  to  the  condition  of  the  laboring  classes,  that, 
rendered  odious  to  the  masses,  he  was  overwhelmingly 
defeated.  In  1844  his  name  was  again  presented,  and  a 
majority  of  the  delegates  of  the  convention,  held  at  Bal- 
timore, were  for  him.  But  the  Southerners  opposed  him, 
because  he  had  expressed  himself  adversely  to  the  annex- 
ation of  Texas,  and  by  making  a  vote  of  two-thirds 
necessary  to  a  choice,  defeated  his  prospects.  He  subse- 
quently became  a  free  Democrat,  or  Free-Soiler.  After 
1848,  he  returned  to  private  life  on  his  estate  at  Linden- 
wald,  near  Kinderhook,  enjoying  leisure,  wealth,  and  a 
contented  old  age.  Long  before  his  death,  the  prejudice 
that  had  been  excited  by  party  politics  wore  away,  and 
he  was  seen  in  his  true  character.  He  was  an  amiable 
and  accomplished  gentleman,  and  his  domestic  relations 
were  very  happy.  His  son  John,  a  brilliant  lawyer  in 
New  York  city,  survived  his  father  but  four  years. 


446  LIVP:S  OF  THI-: 


WILLIAM  HI:M;V   HAIMUSON. 

The  administration  of  William  Henry  Harrison,  the 
successor  of  Martin  Van  Bui-en,  and  ninth  President,  was 
the  briefest  in  tin-  history  o!'  the  country.  It  lasted  ex- 
actly one  month,  from  the  4th  of  March,  1841,  when  he 
was  inaugurated,  to  the  1th  of  April,  when  he  died,  after 
a  week's  illness,  supposed  to  have  been  brought  on  by 
the  excitement  and  fatigue  of  the  campaign  and  the 
inauguration.  He  was  older  —  being  sixty-eight  —  than 
any  man  who  has  been  called  to  the  Executive  office,  and 
possibly  on  this  account  less  able  to  bear  the  strain. 

Harrison  was  born  in  Berkeley,  Charles  City  County, 
Virginia,  February  9,  1773,  and  died  in  Washington. 
Jlis  father  was  Governor  Benjamin  Harrison,  and  his 
family  enjoyed  good  social  position.  He  entered  the 
army  some  time  before  his  majority,  and  rose  in  time 
from  Ensign  to  Major-General.  His  most  important 
campaigns  were  against  the  Indians,  whom  he  managed 
so  well  that,  in  treating  with  diiVerent  tribes  at  different 
times,  he  obtained  from  them  very  important  concessions 
of  land.  It  was  during  his  Indian  fighting  that  the  suc- 
cessful defense  of  his  camp  at  Tippecanoe  gave  him  that 
nick-name.  He  took  a  creditable  part  in  the  short  War  of 
1812  with  England  ;  and,  after  it,  went  into  an  honorable 
retirement  for  a  time  at  North  Bend,  Ohio,  where  he  had 
a.  farm.  He  was  sent  to  Congress  in  1816;  after  a  few 
years,  to  the  Senate  ;  and  was  appointed  by  John  Quincy 


MVES   OF   THE  PRESIDENTS.  447 

Adams,  Minister  to  Colombia.  He  was  quickly  recalled 
upon  Jackson's  inauguration,  and  remained  in  private 
life  until  he  was  nominated  for  the  Presidency  in  1836, 
•in  opposition  to  Martin  Van  Buren.  He  was  defeated, 
but  renominated  in  1840.  The  military  element  having 
been  introduced  into  politics  by  General  Jackson's  elec- 
tion, it  was  thought  that  a  second  attempt,  with  a  good 
military  record,  would  be  more  certain  than  the  first  had 
been  to  defeat  Van  Buren.  Harrison  was,  therefore, 
again  put  forward,  with  John  Tyler  of  Virginia  for  Vice- 
President,  and  the  ticket  polled  a  very  large  and  success- 
ful vote.  The  methods  of  conducting  political  cam- 
paigns had  greatly  changed  during  this  period — mass 
meetings,  torch-light  processions,  and  manufactured 
enthusiasm  becoming  the  order  of  the  day.  The  oppo- 
sition had  cast  it  as  a  slur  upon  Harrison  that  he  had  at 
some  time  lived  in  a  log-cabin,  and  had  only  hard  cider 
to  drink.  It  was  stupid  and  silly ;  for  what  a  man  is, 
not  where  he  has  lived,  is  the  important  thing  in  this 
country ;  and  the  Whigs  quickly  caught  the  words,  and 
used  "log-cabin  "  and  "  hard  cider"  with  excellent  effect. 
Harrison  was  a  man  of  pleasing  address,  agreeable  man- 
ners, and  a  thorough  gentleman. 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 


JOHN  TYLER  AND  .JAMES  K.  POLK,  TENTH  AND 
ELEVENTH  PRESIDENTS  OF  Till-  UNITED 
STATES. 

Tyler  the  First  Vice-President  to  Swreed  the  Chief  Executive  by 
Death. — A  Representative  of  the  Same  Social  ('hiss  as  Jefferson, 
Madison,  and  Monroe. — Education  ami  Wealth  Really  Disadvan- 
tageous to  Him. — A  Career  of  Continuous  Vetoes. — Making  Himself 
Extremely  Unpopular. — Forcing  His  Cabinet  to  Resign. — The 
Annexation  of  Texas  a  Favorite  Scheme. — A  Member  of  the  Peace 
Convention  in  1861. — A  Former  Chief  Magistrate  in  Open  Rebellion 
Against  the  Government. — Polk  and  the  Mexican  War. — A  Common- 
place President. 

JOHN    TYLER. 

Upon  the  death  of  President  Harrison,  Vice-President 
Tyler  succeeded  to  the  office,  and  was  the  first  of  the  four 
Vice-Presidents  who  have  become  President  on  the  death 
of  the  elected  Executive.  By  an  odd  coincidence,  he 
was  born  in  the  same  county — Charles  City — in  Virginia, 
which  gave  birth  to  Harrison,  though  the  latter  so  early 
made  his  home  in  Ohio  that  he  is  commonly  reported  as 
an  Ohioan.  Tyler  was  much  younger  than  Harrison, 
having  been  born  March  29, 1790,  and  was  the  second 

son  of  John  Tyler,  a  distinguished  revolutionary  patriot. 

(448) 


THE  SEXATE  CHAMBER. 
INSIDE  THE  CAPITOL.— \FASHIXGT01V. 


LIVES   OF  THE   PRESIDENTS.  449 

He  belonged  to  the  same  social  class  with  Jefferson, 
Madison,  and  Monroe,  but  was  a  man  of  very  different 
caliber.  He  was  narrow-minded  where  they  were  broad, 
bigoted  where  they  were  liberal,  reactionary  in  his  politi- 
cal principles  where  they  were  progressive,  and  was 
indeed,  what  has  recently  been  considered  a  typical 
Southerner  rather  than  a  typical  American.  In  his 
youth  he  had  all  the  advantages  of  education  and  wealth  ; 
but,  to  a  man  of  his  turn  of  mind,  they  were  really  dis- 
advantages. 

Tyler  held  many  offices,  beginning  with  the  Virginia 
Legislature,  passing  on  to  the  House  of  Representatives 
in  Washington,  and  thence  to  the  Senate,  before  being 
nominated  to  the  Vice-Presidency.  In  the  Senate  he 
succeeded  the  famous  John  Randolph,  and  while  there 
began  his  well-known  career  of  opposition  to  progress 
which  resulted  in  continual  Presidential  vetoes  during 
his  administration.  As  Senator,  he  voted  against  all 
efforts  toward  internal  improvements  by  the  general  gov- 
ernment, against  various  tariff  bills,  and  against  many 
things  which  showed  an  enlightened  public  spirit.  He 
made  himself  very  unpopular,  but  was  finally  nominated 
for  the  Vice-Presidency,  in  order  to  draw  the  Southern 
vote  to  JIarrison,  with  whose  nomination  the  South  was 
much  dissatisfied,  having  preferred  Henry  Clay.  Tyler 
was  then  acting  with  the  Whig  party,  but  soon  after  his 
accession  to  the  Presidency  he  began  to  offend  his  party 
by  his  ill-considered  acts,  and  speedily  forced  all  his  cab- 


450  LIVK>   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS. 

inct  except  Daniel  Webster,  the  Secretary  of  State,  to 
resign.  His  course  became  so  unsatisfactory  during  the 
second  year  of  his  administration  that  the  Whig  mem- 
bers of  Congress  felt  called  upon  to  publicly  declare 
themselves  as  entirely  at  odds  with  the  President,  and 
no  longer  his  adherents. 

The  annexation  of  Texas  occurred  during  President 
Tyler's  administration,  and  was  a  scheme  much  favored 
by  him.  It  w;is  only  successfully  carried,  however,  with 
the  aid  of  the  Democrats  in  Congress,  whose  influence 
Tyler  continually  sought,  after  antagonizing  his  own 
party. 

Although  Tyler  accepted  a  renomination  from  a  con- 
vention composed  mainly  of  office-holders,  held  in  May, 
1844,  it  soon  became  evident,  even  to  him.  that  he  would 
certainly  be  ignominiously  beaten;  consequently  he  with- 
drew his  name  from  the  candidacy.  He  was  the  first 
'•lent  to  express  himself  actively  in  favor  of  slavery, 
and  everything  which  looked  toward  a  limitation  of  the 
"  institution  "  aroused  his  most  violent  opposition.  In 
1861,  he  was  a  member  of  the  "  Peace  Convention,"  held 
in  Washington,  in  the  futile  hope  of  arranging  the  diffi- 
culties between  the  seceded  States  and  the  National 
Government.  The  convention  being  without  result,  he 
threw  in  his  fortunes  with  the  Confederacy,  and  presented 
the  humiliating  spectacle  of  a  former  Chief  Magistrate 
in  open  Rebellion  against  the  Government  of  which  he 
had  once  been  the  head. 


LIVES   OP   THE   PRESIDENTS.  451 

Tyler  was  twice  married,  and  was  the  father  of  several 
children.  He  died  on  January  17,  1862,  at  Richmond, 
Virginia, -while  a  member  of  the  Confederate  Congress. 

JAMES   K.  POLK. 

James  Knox  Polk,  the  eleventh  President,  was  born 
in  Mecklenburg  County,  North  Carolina,  November  12, 
1795.  He  did  not,  like  the  Virginia  Presidents,  spring 
from  the  wealthy  and  cultured  class,  but  was  the  son  of 
a  farmer  in  very  moderate  circumstances,  who  removed 
in  1806  to  Tennessee.  His  early  education  was  very 
limited  ;  but  he  managed  to  prepare  himself  for  college, 
and  was  graduated  in  1818  from  the  University  of  North 
Carolina.  He  began  to  practise  at  the  bar  in  1820  ;  was 
elected  to  the  State  Legislature  in  1823 ;  was  sent  to 
Congress  in  1825,  where  he  was  strongly  opposed  to 
President  John  Quincy  Adams'  administration.  Later 
he  became  ardently  devoted  to  General  Jackson,  and 
remained  a  most  earnest  Democrat  during  his  life.  In 
1835,  Polk  was  elected  Speaker  of  the  House.  After 
being  in  Congress  fourteen  years,  lie  declined  a  renoin- 
ination,  and  retired  to  Tennessee,  only  to  b'e  immediately 
made  Governor  of  the  State.  In  May,  1844,  the  National 
Democratic  Convention  nominated  him  for  President, 
with  George  M.  Dallas  of  Pennsylvania  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent.  The  Whig  candidates  were  Henry  Clay  and  The- 
dore  Frelinghuysen.  Polk  and  Dallas  were  successful, 
and  entered  office  March  4,  1845.  The  annexation  of 


4-">2  LIVES  OP  THE   PRESIDENTS. 

Texas  had  just  been  advised  by  President  Tyler,  and  it 
became  the  most  important  effort  of  President  Pulk's 
administration  to  defend  the  frontier  of  our  ne\v  po^ses- 
sioii.  He  sent  General  Taylor  with  a  small  foree  to 
occupy  the  disputed  land  between  the  Nueces  river, 
which  Mexico  claimed  as  the  boundary,  and  the  Rio 
Grande,  which  the  Government  claimed  as  the  boundary. 
In  April,  1846,  active  fighting  began  between  (General 
Taylor  and  General  Arista,  tin.-  Mexican  commander. 
The  President  then  declared  that  war  existed,  and  a>ked 
Congress  for  men  and  money.  Authority  was  given  to 
call  for  fifty  thousand  men,  and  810,000,000.  Although 
the  war  was  generally  unpopular  at  the  North,  it  was 
proseeutcd  with  energy,  our  forces  even  penetrating  to 
the  very  capital  of  .Mexico.  Mexico  ended  by  ceding  all 
that  was  demanded  of  her,  yielding  upper  California  and 
New  Mexico,  and  granting  the  Rio  Grande  from  its 
mouth  to  El  Paso,  as  the  southern  boundary  of  Texas. 
Beside  the  Mexican  war,  the  important  events  of  Polk's 
administration  were  certain  modifications  of  the  tarilT, 
the  creation  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior,  the  admis- 
sion of  the  State  of  Wisconsin,  and  the  very  important 
event  of  establishing  the  National  Treasury  system  in 
Washington,  independent  of  all  the  State  banks. 

Having  agreed  not  to  seek  a  renomination,  President 
Polk  retired  from  office  March  4, 1849,  and  three  months 
later  died,  after  a  few  days'  illness,  at  his  home  in 
Nashville. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 


ZACHARY  TAYLOR,  MILLARD  FILLMORE,  AND 
FRANKLIN  PIERCE,  TWELFTH,  THIRTEENTH, 
AND  FOURTEENTH  PRESIDENTS,  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES. 

Taylor  purely  a  Military  Man. — His  Reputation  made  in  the  Mexican 
"War. — His  Death  in  Four  Months. — His  Disqualifications  for  Politi- 
cal Life. — Fillmore's  Early  Success. — His  Foreshadowing  of  the 
National  Banking  System. — Approval  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law. — 
The  Irreparable  Injury  it  did  Him. — A  Candidate  of  the  American 
Party. — Pierce  a  Northern  Man  with  Extreme  Southern  Principles. 
— His  constant  Sympathy  with  and  Sustainmcnt  of  Slavery. — His 
Gallantry  in  the  Field. — Retirement  to  Private  Life  Equivalent  to 
Extinction. 

The  twelfth  President,  General  Zachaiy  Taylor,  was 
the  last  of  the  Presidents  born  in  Virginia.  He  first 
saw  the  light  on  September  24,  1784,  -in  Orange 
County,  from  which  his  father,  Colonel  Richard  Tay- 
lor, removed  to  the  neighborhood  of  Louisville,  Ken- 
tucky, in  1785.  Until  he  was  twenty-three,  Zachary 
remained  on  his  father's  plantation  ;  but  in  1808,  his 
elder  brother,  Hancock,  died  in  the  army,  and  the  com- 
mission—  that  of  Lieutenant  —  which  he  held,  was 

(453) 


454  LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS. 

offered  to  Zachary.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a  mili- 
tary career  which  lasted  nearly  all  his  life.  After  the 
declaration  of  war  against  Great  Britain  in  1812,  he 
being  then  a  Captain,  was  placed  in  command  of  Fort 
Harrison  on  the  Wabash  River,  not  far  from  Yincennes. 
This  was  furiously  attacked  at  night  by  the  Indians; 
but  Captain  Taylor,  with  a  handful  of  men,  two-thirds 
of  them  being  ill,  made  a  brilliant  and  successful 
defense,  and  received  as  his  reward  from  President 
Madison,  the  brevet  rank  of  Major  —  the  first  time 
a  brevet  rank  was  ever  conferred  in  our  army.  Having 
thus  established  his  military  reputation,  he  constantly 
held  important  commands  until  the  peace  in  1815, 
when,  for  a  brief  period,  he  resigned  his  commission, 
and  retired  to  private  life. 

He  was  soon  ^appointed,  however,  and  took  con- 
si.icuons  part  in  the  Black  Hawk  War,  and  in  the 
conflicts  with  the  Indians  in  Florida  in  183G-37,  and  in 
1840  was  appointed  Commander  of  the  First  Depart- 
ment of  the  Southwest.  About  this  time  he  purchased 
an  estate  at  Baton  Rouge,  and  removed  his  family 
thereto.  In  July,  1845,  following  the  annexation  of 
Tv'xas,  he  was  ordered  with  fifteen  hundred  troops  to 
dej'end  our  new  poaeeasion  against  invasion  by  Mexico. 
He  encamped  near  Corpus  Cliristi,  and  his  force  was 
soon  increased  to  four  thousand.  It  was  pretty  plainly 
indicated  to  General  Taylor  that  the  Government  would 


LIVES   OF  THE   PRESIDENTS.  455 

be  glad  to  have  him  throw  down  the  gauntlet  to  Mexico 
by  moving  into  the  disputed  territory.  Taylor,  how- 
ever, was  too  wise  to  commit  any  overt  act  until 
expressly  ordered  to  do  so  by  President  Polk.  Being 
positively  ordered  to  advance,  he  began  to  move  toward 
the  Rio  Grande  on  March  8,  1846,  and  on  the  28th, 
reached  the  bank  of  the  river  opposite  Matamoras.  On 
the  12th  of  April,  General  Ampudia,  in  command  of 
the  Mexican  forces  near  by,  sent  word  to  General 
Taylor  to  retire  to  the  Nueces  River,  while  the  boundary 
question  was  being  settled  by  the  respective  govern- 
ments, at  the  same  time  declaring  a  failure  to  comply 
with  the  advice  would  be  construed  as  a  declaration 
of  war  by  Mexico.  General  Taylor  replied  that  his 
instructions  did  not  permit  him  to  retire,  and  that 
if  the  Mexicans  chose  to  begin  hostilities,  he  was  pre- 
pared. Such  was  the  beginning  of  the  Mexican  War. 
On  the  8th  of  May,  the  battle  of  Palo  Alto,  the  first 
of  the  war,  was  won  by  General  Taylor ;  and  from  that 
day  until  his  return  home  in  November,  1847,  "  Old 
Rough  and  Ready,"  as  he  was  called  by  his  soldiers, 
was  almost  uniformly  successful. 

In  June,  1848,  he  was  nominated  for  President  by  the 
Whigs,  upon  the  express  understanding  that  he  should 
be  unbound  by  pledges.  Millard  Fillmore  of  New  York 
was  nominated  for  Vice-President.  Although  the  nom- 
ination of  General  Taylor  was  quite  popular  among  the 

19 


466  LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS. 

people,  it  gave  considerable  offense  to  a  number  of  the 
northern  delegates,  and  Henry  Wilson  and  some  others 
withdrew  from  the  convention  to  form  the  Free  Soil  party, 
the  basis  of  which  was  opposition  to  the  extension  of 
slavery.  The  Democrats  nominated  Lewis  Cass  ;  but  on 
account  of  his  known  pro-slavery  principles,  many  of  his 
party  refused  to  vote  for  him,  giving  their  suffrages  to 
the  Free  S,>il  candidates,  Martin  Van  Ilurcn  and  Charles 
Francis  Adams.  General  Taylor  was,  however,  elected, 
and  was  inaugurated  on  Monday,  March  5,  1849. 

The  most  important  questions  of  his  administration 
concerned  the  admission  of  California  as  a  State,  the  or- 
ganization of  the  new  territories,  and  the  still  vexed 
boundaries  of  Texas  ;  the  vital  point  being  the  relation 
of  Slavery  to  the  new  sections.  At  that  time,  there  were 
an  equal  number  of  Slave  and  Free  States,  giving  an  ex- 
act balance  of  power  in  the  Senate,  and  the  admission  of 
California  either  as  a  Free  or  a  Slave  State  was  a  matter 
of  vital  importance  to  both  political  parties.  President 
Taylor  recommended  that  California  be  admitted  ;  that 
the  new  territories  should  draw  up  constitutions  to  suit 
themselves  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  be  ultimately 
admitted  as  States  on  these  bases.  This  view  was  too 
liberal  for  the  slave-holding  leaders  of  the  South,  and 
many  of  them  already  threatened  secession.  In  the 
Senate,  Henry  Clay  was  attempting  to  effect  some  sort 
of  compromise — compromise  which  has  ever  been  the 


LIVES   OF  THE   PRESIDENTS.  457 

bane  of  the  country — when  President  Taylor  was  attacked 
with  bilious  fever  on  July  4,  1850,  and  died  five  days 
later  at  the  White  House. 

Few  of  the  Presidents  have  been  less  prepared  to  fill 
that  high  office.  He  was  ignorant,  not  only  of  state-craft 
and  politics,  but  he  had  not  had  the  most  ordinary  ad- 
vantages of  education.  On  the  other  hand,  he  had  ster- 
ling qualities  of  character ;  he  was  simple,  modest,  loyal, 
and  thoroughly  desirous  to  do  his  duty  as  far  as  a  limited 
understanding  made  it  plain ;  and  he  died  amid  sincere 
regret.  He  left  several  children,  one  of  his  daughters 
being  the  first  Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis. 

MILLARD    FILLMORE. 

Millard  Fillmore,  the  thirteenth  President,  was  born 
January  7,  1800,  in  Locke,  now  Summerhill,  Cayuga 
County,  New  York.  The  region  was  then  a  wilderness, 
and  his  opportunities  for  education  were  limited  to  the 
most  elementary  parts.  At  fourteen,  he  was  apprenticed 
to  learn  the  fuller's  trade  ;  but  in  his  nineteenth  year 
determined  to  study  law.  He  agreed,  therefore,  to  buy 
the  rest  of  his  time  from  his  employer,  and  with  a  neigh- 
boring lawyer  arranged  to  earn  his  lessons.  In  1821, 
he  made  his  way  on  foot  to  Buffalo,  and  arrived  an  utter 
stranger  with  his  entire  fortune  of  $4  in  his  pocket.  He 
obtained  employment  by  teaching  school,  and  assisting 
the  post-master  while  he  prosecuted  his  studies,  and  the 


458  LIVES   OF   THE    PRESIDENTS. 

energy  and  determination  which  had  helped  him  so  far, 
carried  him  to  the  bar  before  the  usual  period  of  prepara- 
tion. He  began  practice  at  Aurora,  New  York,  where 
his  father  then  resided.  He  gradually  built  up  a  pros- 
perous practice,  and  in  1830  removed  to  Buffalo,  which 
was  ever  after  his  home. 

His  political  life  began  in  1828,  on  his  election  to  the 
State  Legislature  by  the  anti-Masonic  party.  He  parti- 
cularly distinguished  himself  by  advocating  the  abolition 
of  imprisonment  for  debt;  the  bill  in  relation  to  which 
was  mainly  drafted  by  him.  In  1832,  lie  was  sent  to 
Congress  on  the  anti-Jackson  ticket.  In  1836,  he  was 
sent  again  by  the  Whigs,  and  remained  until  1842,  when 
he  declined  a  renomination.  Fillmore  earnestly  sup- 
ported  President  John  Quincy  Adams  in  his  course  con- 
cerning the  reception  and  reading  in  Congress  of  peti- 
tions adverse  to  Slavery.  He  declared  himself  adverse 
to  the  admission  of  Texas  as  a  Slave  State  ;  he  was  in 
favor  of  the  immediate  abolition  of  Slavery  in  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia, — and  of  Congress  using  all  its  consti- 
tutional powers  to  prevent  the  slave  trade  between  the 
States.  lie  would  not,  however,  pledge  himself  not  to 
change  his  opinions  on  these  vital  questions.  Fillmore 
was  a  most  devoted  Representative,  and  was  one  of  the 
mo>t  active  members  during  his  entire  term  in  Congress. 
He  retired  in  1843,  and  was  a  candidate  for  the  nomina- 
tion of  Vice-President  in  1844,  but  was  defeated.  He 


LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS.  459 

•was  also  defeated  for  Governor  of  New  York  in  1845  by 
Silas  Wright.  In  1847  he  was  elected  Comptroller  of 
the  State,  and  in  his  report  in  1849,  suggested  that  a 
national  bank,  with  United  States  stocks  as  a  basis  for 
the  issue  of  currency,  would  be  a  great  convenience  for 
the  people ;  thus  foreshadowing  our  present  national 
banking  system. 

In  June,  1848,  Fillmore  was  really  nominated  for  the 
Vice-Presidency  with  General  Taylor  for  President,  and 
was  elected  the  following  November.  When  John  C. 
Calhoun  was  Yice-President,  he  had  made  the  rule  that 
the  Yice-President  had  no  power  to  call  the  Senate  to 
order.  Fillmore,  however,  in  a  brief  but  telling  speech, 
announced  his  intention  of  keeping  order  in  that  body, 
and  reversing  any  previous  rules,  if  necessary.  His 
course  was  highly  commended  by  the  senators  of  all 
parties. 

On  the  10th  of  July,  1850,  he  was  sworn  in  as  Presi- 
dent upon  Zachary  Taylor's  death.  The  question  of  the 
constitutionality  of  the  act  compelling  the  return  of  fugi- 
tive slaves  soon  came  up  for  decision,  and  was  referred 
to  the  attorney-general,  John  J.  Crittenden  of  Kentucky. 
He  decided  in  favor  of  the  bill,  and  the  President  con- 
curred in  the  decision.  This  was  one  of  the  most  unpop- 
ular measures  of  Fillmore's  administration ;  for  many 
members  of  the  Whig  party  were  opposed  to  encourag- 
ing Slavery,  although  not  avowedly  of  the  anti-slavery 


400  LIVES  OF  THE   PRESIDENTS. 

faith.  The  execution  of  this  law  was  constantly  resisted, 
and  although  the  President  declared  it  should  be  main- 
tained because  it  was  the  law,  those  who  resisted  it  were 
not,  in  consequence  of  its  unpopularity,  often  molested. 
The  signing  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Hill,  as  it  was  called, 
was  nl HIM  !  the  only  very  unpopular  act  of  Fillraore's 
administration,  which  in  many  respects  was  remarkably 
successful ;  but  he  was  so  distasteful  to  the  northern  pub- 
lic that,  when  a  candidate  for  renomination  in  1852,  he 
could  not  secure  twenty  votes  in  the  Free  States.  Once 
afterward,  in  18f>i'>.  he  was  nominated  by  the  American 
or  Know-Nothing  party  for  President,  against  Hm-hamm 
nominated  by  the  Democrats,  and  Fremont  by  the  Repub- 
licans. He  received  quite  a  large  popular  vote;  but 
Maryland  alone  gave  him  its  electoral  vote.  After  this, 
he  wholly  retired  from  public  life,  and  lived  in  Buffalo 
until  his  death,  March  8th,  1874. 

FRANKLIN    PIERCE. 

Franklin  Pierce,  fourteenth  President,  although  well 
born — his  father  being  a  Revolutionary  general,  and 
Governor  of  his  native  State — and  well  educated,  was 
one  of  the  most  unenlightened  Executives  the  country 
lias  had.  His  body  was  born  in  Hillsborough,  New 
Hampshire,  November  23, 1804  ;  but  his  mind  was  native 
to  the  most  bigoted  region  of  the  South.  He  was  gradu- 
ated at  Bowdoin  College  in  1824,  in  the  same  class  with 


LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS.  461 

Nathaniel  Hawthorne ;  he  studied  law  at  Portsmouth 
and  Amhcrst,  N.  H.,  and  Northampton,  Mass.,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1827.  At  the  age 
of  twenty-five,  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature, 
remaining  four  years.  At  twenty-nine,  he  was  sent  to 
Congress,  and  in  1837,  when  barely  of  legal  age,  was 
sent  to  the  Senate.  This  rapid  political  advancement 
indicated  that  he  was  regarded  as  an  exceptionally  able 
young  man  ;  but  it  also  indicates  that  the  constituency 
which  thus  recognized  his  ability  must  have  been  no  less 
narrow-minded  than  himself.  All  his  congressional 
course  was  in  the  line  of  political  retrogression,  and  he 
uniformly  voted  with  the  southern  members  in  favor  of 
all  pro-slavery  and  other  mistaken  acts.  He  ardently 
approved  the  annexation  of  Texas,  and  was  in  such  cor- 
dial sympathy  with  President  Polk  concerning  the  Mexi- 
can war,  that  he  enlisted  in  one  of  the  earliest  volunteer 
regiments.  He  was  shortly  after  made  Colonel  of  the 
Ninth  regiment,  and  was  commissioned  Brigadier-General 
before  he  departed  for  the  seat  of  war.  The  appoint- 
ment, however,  was  justified  by  his  bravery  and  wisdom 
on  the  battle-field  ;  and  at  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned 
to  his  home  and  his  law  practice  covered  with  laurels. 
In  1852,  he  was  nominated  by  the  Democrats  for  the 
Presidency,  and  elected  by  an  overwhelming  majority. 
In  his  inaugural  address  he  foreshadowed  his  future  blind 
policy.  He  argued  that  Slavery  was  recognized  by  the 


462  LIVES   OF   THE    PRESIDENTS. 

Constitution  ;  that  therefore  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  was 
right,  and  should  be  carried  out  ;  and  he  denounced  all 
agitation  of  the  slavery  <|iicstion.  Amon.ir  the  most  im- 
portant events  of  his  administration  were  the  repeal  of 
the  Missouri  compromise,  the  organization  of  the  Terri- 
tories of  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  under  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Act,  ahd  the  negotiation  by  Commodore  Perry 
of  our  first  treaty  with  the  hitherto  unknown  country  of 
Japan.  It  was  about  this  time  that  the  troubles  between 
the  anti-slavery  and  pro-slavery  citizens  of  Kansas  began  ; 
and  on  January  24, 1856,  President  Pierce  sent  a  message 
to  Congress  declaring  the  formation  of  a  Free-State  gov- 
ernment in  Kansas  an  act  of  rebellion.  The  President's 
course  in  relation  to  the  border  troubles,  as  they  were 
then  called,  gave  great  offense,  and  justly,  to  a  very  large 
part  of  the  North,  although  anti-slavery  tenets  were  then 
by  no  means  popular.  There  is  little  doubt,  however, 
that  his  evident  southern  proclivities  helped  to  dei'cat 
Pierce  for  renomination  ;  for  sectional  feeling,  which 
resulted  later  in  civil  war,  was  already  beginning  to  run 
high.  As  long  as  he  remained  the  Executive,  Pierce  did 
his  utmost  to  prevent  the  new  States,  Kansas  especially, 
from  being  free,  and  when  he  retired,  on  March  4, 1857, 
he  left  the  way  open  for  his  weak-kneed  successor,  James 
Buchanan,  to  do  the  same. 

After  leaving  the  White  House,  Pierce  made  a  protract- 
ed European  tour,  and  returned  to  New  Hampshire  about 


LIVES   OF.  THE   PRESIDENTS.  463 

the  beginning  of  the  Rebellion.  During  its  progrsss  he 
declared  in  a  public  speech  his  entire  sympathy  with  the 
South.  He  passed  into  a  retirement  which  became  prac- 
tically oblivion,  and  died  at  Concord,  October  8,  1869. 
Personally  he  was  amiable,  courteous,  and  refined,  and 
much  liked  by  his  intimate  friends  ;  but  his  peculiar  bias 
prevented  him  from  comprehending  both  sides  of  a 
question. 

19* 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 


JAMES  BUCHANAN,  FIFTEENTH  PRESIDENT  OF 
THE  UNITED  STATES. 

An  Unpopular  Administration. — James  Buchanan's  Early  History. 
— Sent  to  Congress  at  Twenty-nine. — The  Weakest  of  Presidents. — 
His  Total  Inadequacy  for  the  Great  Emergency  in  which  He  was 
Placed. — Shrewd  for  His  Own  Interest. — An  Admirer  and  Fol- 
lower of  Jackson  Without  His  Will  or  Courage. — The  Anti-Slav- 
ery Excitement  in  Kansas. — The  Cause  of  the  Civil  War  Inherent 
in  the  Constitution. — The  Nation  on  the  Eve  of  a  Conflict. — 
Admission  by  Buchanan  of  the  Right  of  the  Southern  States  to 
Secede. — A  Pitiful  Spectacle  of  Imbecility. — General  Relief  at  the 
End  of  His  Administration. 

No  administration,  unless  it  was  John  Tyler's,  has 
over  been  so  unpopular  as  James  Buchanan's.  Odious 
throughout  the  North  on  account  of  what  was  declared 
to  be  his  cowardly  and  treacherous  yielding  to  the  out- 
rageous and  rebellious  acts  of  the  South,  it  was,  towards 
its  close,  bitterly  condemned  by  the  South,  which  accused 
him  of  perfidy  to  them  in  sustaining  the  unconstitutional 
aggressions  of  the  North.  He  shared  the  fate  of  most 
men  who,  in  times  of  fierce  dissension  between  two  great 

parties,  try,  in  a  feeble   and  vacillating  way.  to  avoid 

(464) 


THE  HALL  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 
INSIDE  THE  CAPITOL.— WASHINGTON. 


LIVES   OF   THE    PRESIDENTS.  465 

offending  either,  and  end  by  offending  both.  The  best 
that  can  be  said  of  Buchanan  is  that,  placed  in  a  most 
difficult  and  critical  situation,  which  would  have  tested 
the  powers  of  the  strongest  man,  he  was  found  weak 
and  irresolute,  and  shamefully  inadequate  to  the  vast 
emergency. 

His  father  was  a  Scotch-Irishman,  who  had  immigrated 
to  this  country  without  means  or  prospects,  and  had 
married,  soon  after  arrival,  Elizabeth  Speer,  a  farmer's 
daughter.  They  sought  their  fortunes  in  an  unsettled 
region  of  Pennsylvania;  the  young  husband  cutting 
down  the  trees,  and  building  a  log  hut  for  their  future 
home.  There,  at  the  base  of  the  eastern  ridge  of  the 
Alleghanies,  in  Franklin  County,  Jaines  was  born,  April 
22d,  1791,  and  spent  eight  years.  He  died  near  Lan- 
caster in  June,  1868.  His  father,  who,  like  most  of  his 
race,  was  industrious,  shrewd,  and  thrifty,  prospered  in  a 
humble  fashion,  and  removed  to  the  village  of  Mercers- 
burg,  where  the  boy  was  sent  to  school.  He  showed 
great  aptitude  and  native  talents,  and  entered  Dickinson 
College  at  Carlisle  at  fourteen,  and,  four  years  later,  was 
graduated  with  distinction.  Like  almost  every  other 
President,  he  took  to  law  at  Lancaster,  and  began  prac- 
tice when  he  had  attained  his  majority.  He  is  reported 
to  have  been  tall,  well-formed,  vigorous,  exuberant  of 
spirits,  and  fond  of  manly  sports.  Very  diligent  and 
ambitious,  he  advanced  rapidly,  gained  a  lucrative  prac- 


466  LIVES    OF    THE    PKFSIDKNTS. 

tice,  and  at  thirty  was  ranked  as  one  of  the  first  lawyers 
in  the  State. 

Having  been  sent  to  Congress  at  twenty-nine,  lie 
remained  there  for  ten  years,  and  when  lie  had  reached 
forty,  he  retired  from  business,  having  acquired  what 
was  then  regarded  as  wealth.  In  politics  he  began  as 
a  Federalist;  but  he  favored  the  war  of  1812,  and  even 
volunteered  for  the  defense  of  Baltimore.  Subsequently 
he  turned  Republican,  properly  Democrat,  largely  through 
his  admiration  of  (leneral  Jackson,  and  from  sympathy 
with  his  doctrines, — the  kind  of  admiration,  it  is  pre- 
sumed, which  a  flabby  nature  has  for  a  strong  one.  In 
1831,  he  was  appointed  by  the  President  Minister  to 
Russia,  and  discharged  his  duties  faithfully  and  accepta- 
bly. On  his  return,  two  years  later,  he  was  chosen 
to  the  United  States  Senate,  where  he  came  into  contact 
with  Silas  Wright,  Calhoun,  Webster,  and  Clay,  the  last 
of  whom  never  liked  him,  regarding  him  as  a  timid, 
self-seeking,  time-serving  man.  He  almost  invariably 
reflected  the  views  of  the  administration,  and  was 
accused  by  his  opponents  of  obsequiousness  and  sub- 
serviency, lie  defended  Jackson  for  his  course  in 
removing  from  office  all  who  would  not  support  him,  or 
were  of  different  politics — a  course  that  has  been  incal- 
culably mischievous  to  the  government,  and  for  which 
Jackson  is  entirely  responsible — and  insisted  that  it  was 
not  only  justifiable,  but  commendable.  This  greatly 


LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS.  467 

pleased  Jackson,  who  never  could  distinguish  between 
flattery  and  sincere  appreciation,  and  who  considered 
every  man  his  enemy  that  had  a  will  of  his  own.  Con- 
sistently with  his  peculiar  character,  he  sustained  the 
administration  of  Van  Buren,  and  ardently  advocated 
the  annexation  of  Texas.  He  was  returned  to  the 
Senate,  and  kept  his  seat  until  Polk  assigned  him  (1845) 
a  place  in  his  Cabinet  as  Secretary  of  State. 

Buchanan  naturally  employed  all  his  energy  against 
the  Wilmot  Proviso,  by  which  Slavery  should  be  excluded 
from  all  territory  obtained  from  Mexico,  and  was  con- 
tinually nervous  and  troubled  about  the  anti-slavery 
movement,  at  that  time  steadily  growing.  From  first 
to  last,  he  was  always  actively  on  the  side  of  the  peculiar 
institution,  and  was  secretly  despised  therefor  by  not  a 
few  of  the  most  zealous  southerners.  Conservative  to  a 
point  of  timorousness,  he  was  ever  in  dread  of  a  disso- 
lution of  the  Union.  He  did  not  think  the  North  could 
do  too  much  cringing  and  skulking  to  placate  the  inso- 
lent and  arrogant  South.  He  was  willing  that  the 
Republic  should  be  materially  preserved  by  the  sacrifice 
of  all  principle  on  the  part  of  the  Free  States.  In  a 
speech  in  the  lower  house,  he  said,  "I  shall  forever  avoid 
any  expression,  the  direct  tendency  of  which  must  be  to 
create  sectional  jealousies,  and  at  length  disunion, — that 
worst  and  last  of  all  political  calamities."  Discussing 
the  admission  of  Michigan  and  Arkansas,  in  the  Senate, 


468  LIVKS    OK    THK    PHKSIir 

he  declared,  "The  older  I  grow,  th<-  more  I  am  inclined 
to  be  a  states-rights  man."  He  maintained,  concerning 

petitions  about  Shivery,  that  "Congress  had  no  power  to 
legislate  on  the  subject,"  and  that  t lie  body  "might  as 
well  undertake  to  interfere  with  Slavery  under  a  foreign 
government  as  in  any  of  th«-  States  where  it  now  exists." 
More  southern  than  the  Southerners,  lie  was  without 
their  motive  of  material  interest,  and  without  their 
excuse  of  local  tradition  and  sectional  prejudice.  Is  it 
strange,  therefore,  that  in  1S50  he  was  put  forward  as 
their  candidate  for  the  presidency,  against  John  C. 
Fremont,  the  first  Republican  candidate  of  the  new 
order,  and  Millard  Fillmore,  Native  American  ?  As  was 
said  at  the  time,  they  could  not  find  a  more  willing 
servant,  or  a  more  pliant  tool.  He  received  at  the 
Cincinnati  convention  one  hundred  and  seventy-four 
electoral  votes  out  of  three  hundred  and  three,  and 
became  the  fifteenth  President. 

Extraordinary  excitement  was  produced,  the  first  year 
of  his  administration,  by  an  effort  to  introduce  Slavery 
into  Kansas,  where  civil  war  was  waged.  He  was,  of 
course,  an  aider  and  abettor  of  the  South.  He  argued 
in  his  message  that  the  Lecompton  Constitution,  which 
was  directly  in  the  interest  of  the  pro-slavery  men, 
should  be  adopted ;  but  Congress  resisted,  and  Kansas 
came  in  free.  He  wanted  to  buy  Cuba  for  the  advantage 
of  slavery ;  he  filled  his  Cabinet  with  Democrats  and 


LIVES   OP   THE   PRESIDENTS.  469 

their  friends,  and  negatively,  at  least,  helped  the  cause 
of  secession  by  every  means  in  his  power.  Everybody 
saw  the  long-deferred,  but  never-settled  sectional  conflict 
at  hand ;  that  the  contest  which  had  been  suppressed 
and  glossed  over  by  the  Constitution  would,  after  nearly 
a  century,  have  to  be  fought  out. 

The  founders  of  the  Republic  had  secured  peace  by 
bequeathing  the  unavoidable  battle  to  their  posterity.  It 
was  in  1861  as  it  had  been  in  1789.  That  was  the 
armistice  ;  this  was  the  resumption  of  hostilities.  It  was 
Federalist  and  anti-Federalist  then  ;  it  was  Unionist  and 
Disunionist  now  ;  but,  although  the  words  were  changed, 
the  meaning  was  the  same.  The  cause  of  the  civil  strife 
was  the  outward  agreement  and  the  inward  disagreement 
of  the  Constitution.  Washington  perceived  its  defects, 
but  believed  it  the  best  that  could  be  devised,  the  sole 
alternative  for  anarchy  and  civil  war.  And  so  it  was  ; 
but  the  Civil  War  came  and  was  bound  to  come  in  due 
season.  America  compromised  then,  and  kept  compro- 
mising for  two  generations,  and  the  result  of  the  com- 
promise was  a  mighty  fraternal  struggle  which  for  blood- 
shed and  horror  has  never  been  equaled.  The  cause  of 
the  conflict  was  the  hollow  compromise  of  the  Constitu- 
tion. Its  framers  were  most  thoughtful,  prudent,  saga- 
cious. They  did  all  that  they  could.  They  saw  the 
present ;  they  could  not  perceive  the  future.  And  now 
that  future  is,  fortunately,  behind  us ;  and  we  as  a  people 


470  LIVES    OF   THE    PRESIDENTS. 

are,  for  the  first  time,  united  by  common  losses,  common 
sufferings,  and  common  sorrows. 

As  Buchanan's  term  drew  toward  a  close,  the  people 
of  the  North  became  more  and  more  aroused  against  him 
for  his  constant  concessions  to  the  slave  power.  The  anti- 
slavery  feeling  grew  more  and  more  intense,  and  culmi- 
nated in  the  nomination  of  Abraham  Lincoln  for  Presi- 
dent, who  had  Driven  assurances  that  he  would  be  the 
itive  of  the  whole  country.  The  South  pronounced 
him  a  sectional  candidate,  and  declared  it  would  go  out 
if  he  should  be  elected.  It  had  said  the  same  thing 
about  Fremont.  It  had  been  threatening  to  dissolve  the 
Union  so  long  —  it  had  always  kept  political  control  by 
menacing  the  North — that  the  I-Ycr  States  had  finally 
got  tired  of  hearing  the  threat.  They  were  anxious  to 
learn  whether  it  was  in  earnest  or  not.  If  not,  they 
ought  to  know  it ;  if  in  earnest,  they  should  know  it  also. 
The  knowledge  could  not  come  too  soon.  The  disrupture 
might  as  well  be  then  as  at  any  time — better,  indeed.  So 
they  elected  Lincoln,  and  the  disintegration  began. 

Buchanan  admitted  the  right  of  the  Southern  States 
to  secede,  and  held  that  Congress  had  no  power  to  pre- 
vent them.  He  sat,  nevertheless,  in  his  bewilderment, 
and  saw  the  arms  of  the  Republic  stolen,  the  national 
forts  surrendered,  State  after  State  discarding  its  alle- 
giance. There  was  no  remedy  for  it,  in  his  flaccid  mind. 
He  did  not  even  remonstrate.  All  his  censure  was  for 


LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS.  471 

those  averse  to  the  extension  of  slavery.  His  words 
were  :  "  The  long-continued  interference  of  the  Northern 
people  with  Slavery  in  the  South  has  at  length  produced 
its  natural  effects."  It  was  a  pitiful  spectacle  of  imbe- 
cility., How  differently  Andrew  Jackson,  whom  he  had 
assumed  to  admire,  would  have  acted  in  his  place !  He 
would  have  done  something,  and  something  decisive.  -He 
would  have  taken  the  responsibility.  He  would  have 
taught  the  Rebels  a  lesson  at  the  outset.  The  War  would 
at  least  have  begun  earlier. 

Two  months  before  the  inauguration  of  Lincoln,  the 
South  had  prepared  itself  for  an  aggressive  struggle ;  had 
strengthened  its  position  by  seizing  government  property, 
and  the  head  of  the  nation  had  not  lifted  a  finger  against 
them.  If  he  had  been  hired  to  cooperate  with  them,  he 
could  hardly  have  served  them  more  effectually.  Many 
conciliatory  measures  were  proposed  by  the  North  ;  but 
the  Rebels  rejected  them.  They  evidently  scorned  the 
government,  as  they  had  reason  to,  with  such  an  unex- 
ecutive  Executive.  Buchanan  seemed  concerned  only 
with  the  date  of  the  4th  of  March,  when  his  administra- 
tion would  end,  and  his  responsibility  for  overt  acts 
would  cease.  It  did  end,  and  the  North  breathed  freer, 
and  experienced  a  sense  of  relief  and  of  diminished 
shame  that  there  would  be  no  more  of  him  forever. 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN,   SIXTEENTH   PRESIDENT 
OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Contrast  Between  Lincoln  and  Buchanan.— His  Lonely  Boyhood 
and  Severe  Youth. — The  Cause  of  his  Detestation  of  Slavery.— The 
Campaign  with  Douglas  in  Illinois  Introduces  him  to  the  Nation. — 
The  Irresistible  Magnetism  of  the  Rail-Splitter. — His  Nomination  at 
Chicago. — Deplorable  Condition  of  the  Country  at  the  Time  of  his 
Inauguration. — His  Resolve  to  Preserve  the  Union  at  all  Hazards. — 
Distressing  Effect  of  his  Assassination. — His  Personal  Appearance 
and  Power  of  Persuasion. — How  the  Future  will  Regard  the  Great 
President. 

There  has  scarcely  ever  been  a  greater  contrast 
between  two  men  in  power  than  between  James  Bu- 
chanan and  Abraham  Lincoln.  They  were  antipodes. 
One  was  an  embodiment  of  feebleness,  the  other  an  incar- 
nation of  strength.  The  best  of  Buchanan  was  outside  ; 
the  best  of  Lincoln  inside.  You  had  to  know  one  to 
measure  his  weakness,  and  the  other  to  understand  his 
greatness.  That  such  men  should  succeed  one  another 
is  one  of  the  antitheses  in  which  History  and  Nature 
delight. 

(172) 


LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS.  473 

The  sixteenth  President,  who  is  as  certain  of  lasting 
fame  as  Washington,  was  born  in  Hardin  (now  Larue) 
County,  Ky.,  February  12,  1809,  his  ancestors  having 
gone  from  Pennsylvania  to  Virginia,  whence  they  had 
removed  to  Kentucky.  His  father,  Thomas  Lincoln,  anc* 
his  mother,  Nancy  Hanks,  were  Virginians.  The  child- 
hood of  Abraham  Lincoln  was  lonely,  sterile,  and  full  of 
hardship.  At  eight  years  of  age,  his  parents  went  to 
Spencer  County,  Ind.,  and  he  remembered  how  severe 
the  journey  was,  and  how  much  he  endured  in  making 
it.  Two  years  later,  he  lost  his  mother, — a  bitter  loss 
which  he  never  ceased  to  mourn.  She  had  taught  him  to 
read,  and  did  much  to  form  his  character,  young  as  he 
was.  Among  the  few  books  that  he  had  and  prized  in 
his  boyhood  were  "  Robinson  Crusoe,"  "  Pilgrim's  Pro- 
gress," and  a  "  Life  of  Washington,"  which  left  a  marked 
impression  on  his  mind,  and  from  which  he  could  repeat 
long  passages  after  he  had  become  a  man.  At  twenty- 
one  he  went  to  Macon  County,  Illinois.  He  volunteered 
for  the  defense  of  the  frontier  settlements  on  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  Black  Hawk  War  in  1832,  but  it  came  to 
an  end  before  he  had  seen  any  service.  In  the  same 
year,  he  advocated  the  cause  of  Henry  Clay  against  that 
of  General  Jackson,  and  was  sorely  troubled  at  the 
former's  defeat,  having  formed  an  enthusiastic  admira- 
tion for  him.  In  1834,  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature, 
and  reflected  in  1836  and  1838.  He  had  already  formed 


474  LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS. 

decided  opinions  on  Slavery,  and  had  proclaimed  that  it 
was  founded  on  injustice  and  bad  policy.  He  had  seen 
slaves  chained  and  whipped  when  he  was  a  young  man 
at  New  Orleans,  and  he  hated  slavery  ever  after.  Ad- 
mitted to  ihe  bar,  he  began  to  practice  at  Springfield, 
III.,  in  1837,  and  five  years  after  he  married  Mary  Todd, 
daughter  of  Robert  S.  Todd  of  Lexington,  Ky. 

Having  become  prominent  as  a  Whig  in  his  own  State, 
he  was  sent  to  Congress  in  184G,  and  while  there  always 
acted  on  the  side  of  freedom.  But  his  reputation  was 
local  until  he  had  been  nominated,  in  1858,  by  the  Repub- 
lican Convention  of  Illinois  for  the  United  States  Senate 
in  opposition  to  the  reelection  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 
Lincoln  challenged  his  adversary  to  canvass  the  Stair, 
and  they  did  so,  speaking  in  joint  debate  seven  times. 
It  was  a  remarkable  campaign,  and  attracted  national 
attention.  The  main  question  was  on  the  admission  of 
Kansas  as  a  Free  or  Slave  State.  Douglas's  assumptions 
of  superiority,  and  allusions  to  his  opponent's  early 
poverty  and  humble  employment,  were  received  with 
entire  good  nature,  and  with  such  humorous  turns  and 
telling  retorts  that  the  Little  Giant  was  put  at  disadvan- 
tage. Indeed,  skillful  and  brilliant  debater  though  he 
was,  he  was  no  match  for  Lincoln,  whose  homely  com- 
mon sense  and  sagacious  mind  had  far  more  influence 
with  the  people. 

The  rail-splitter,  as  he  was  called — he  had  often  split 


LIVES   OP   THE   PRESIDENTS.  475 

rails  to  build  cabins — was  one  of  the  most  persuasive  and 
effective  speakers.  Nobody  who  had  ever  heard  him  once, 
whatever  his  prejudice  beforehand,  could  fail  to  like  him. 
He  was  so  simple,  so  fair,  so  direct,  so  convincing,  that 
he  would  always  carry  his  audience  with  him.  It  is 
doubtful  if  he  has  ever  had  his  equal  in  this  respect  in 
the  United  States.  "  To  listen  to  Lincoln,"  said  a  prom- 
inent politician,  "  is  to  be  on  his  side.  There  is  no  resist- 
ing him  or  his  conclusions." 

Lincoln  actually  compelled  Douglas  during  that  memo- 
rable campaign  to  array  himself  against  the  Dred-Scott 
Decision,  and  this  so  enraged  the  extreme  Southern 
Democrats  that  they  refused  to  support  him  for  Presi- 
dent in  1860.  They  nominated  John  C.  Breckinridge 
instead,  and  this  frustrated  Douglas's  hopes  and  burning 
ambition.  Lincoln  was  defeated  by  a  peculiar  arrange- 
ment of  the  legislative  districts,  notwithstanding  that  he 
had  a  plurality  of  more  than  4,000  votes  over  his  rival. 
But  the  Illinois  campaign  made  him  President. 

In  1^60,  he  delivered  a  strong  and  eloquent  speech  on 
the  vital  question  of  slavery  at  the  Cooper  Institute  in 
New  York,  and  then  went  to  New  England,  where  he 
also  spoke  most  effectively.  The  Chicago  Convention 
denied  in  its  platform  the  right  of  Congress,  of  a  Terri- 
torial Legislature,  or  of  any  individual  or  individuals,  to 
give  legal  existence  to  slavery  in  any  territory  of  the 
United  States,  and  on  the  third  ballot  nominated  Lincoln 


47<>  LIVES   OP  THE   PRESIDENTS. 

as  the  Republican  candidate.  \Vm.  II.  Scward's  friends 
were  greatly  disappointed,  for  they  had  been  confident 
of  his  success,  particularly  after  he  had  led  Lincoln  on 
the  first  two  ballots;  but  they  soon  became  reconciled. 
The  canvass  was  most  enthusiastic  and  demonstrative, 
and  the  feeling  all  over  the  country  was  that  we  were  on 
the  eve  of  a  crisis.  Lincoln  received  180  electoral  votes, 
JJreckeiiridge  72,  John  Bell  39,  and  Douglas  12. 

When  Lincoln  had  taken  his  seat,  seven  States  had 
formally  seceded,  and  seven  more  were  contemplating 
secession.  The  North  was,  thanks  to  the  administration 
of  Buchanan,  deprived  of  all  the  requirements  of  war ; 
the  small  army  and  navy  had  been  purposely  scattered; 
the  treasury  was  empty.  The  Free  States  had  scarcely 
decided  what  course  to  take  when  the  attack  by  South 
Carolina  on  Sumter  forced  civil  war  upon  them.  Then 
they  were  unanimous  in  raising  money  and  men;  they 
were  ablaze  with  patriotism;  they  were  as  belligerent  as 
the  South,  though  less  boastful  and  confident.  For  four 
years  war  raged  fiercely,  success  alternating  with  defeat. 
There  were  many  despondent  hours  and  dark  days,  and 
the  President  was  urged  to  various  measures  for  the 
good  of  the  country,  which  he  declined.  Fault  was 
found  with  him  in  various  quarters;  he  was  termed 
slow,  obstinate,  wrong-headed;  but  the  end  proved  his 
consummate  wisdom.  He  was  a  born  leader  of  men. 
He  understood  his  fellow-countrymen,  the  drift  of  events, 


LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS.  477 

and  the  needs  of  the  time  as  no  one  else  understood 
them.  He  steadily  refused  to  proclaim  Emancipation 
until  the  occasion  was  ripe  (September  22,  1862),  and 
he  was  the  man  who  knew  when  that  would  be. 

The  Fugitive  Slave  Law  was  repealed  in  June,  1864, 
and,  about  that  date,  Lincoln  said  in  an  interview : 
"  There  have  been  men  base  enough  to  propose  to  me  to 
return  our  black  warriors  of  Port  Hudson  and  Olustee, 
and  thus  win  the  respect  of  the  masters  they  fought. 
Should  I  do  so,  I  should  deserve  to  be  damned  in  time  and 
eternity.  Come  what  may,  I  will  keep  my  faith  with 
friend  and  foe.  My  enemies  pretend  I  am  now  carrying 
on  this  war  for  the  sole  purpose  of  abolition.  So  long 
as  I  am  President,  it  shall  be  carried  on  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  restoring  the  Union.  But  no  human  power 
can  subdue  this  Rebellion  without  the  use  of  the  eman- 
cipation policy,  and  every  other  policy  calculated  to 
weaken  the  moral  and  physical  forces  of  the  Rebellion." 

The  war,  which  had  cost  a  million  of  lives,  and  mill- 
ions on  millions  of  money,  practically  closed  with  the 
fall  of  Richmond,  April  9,  1865.  But,  while  the  popular 
rejoicing  was  at  its  height,  the  assassination  of  the  great 
President  shocked  the  nation,  and  filled  its  heart  with 
mourning.  No  single  event  has,  it  is  safe  to  say,  ever 
so  filled  the  country  with  anguish  and  a  sense  of  be- 
reavement. The  whole  people  were  stunned  and  dis- 
tressed beyond  expression.  Lincoln  had  grown  upon 


478  LIVES  OF  THE   PRESIDENTS. 

them  steadily  and  rapidly  until  they  had  all  learned  to 
admire,  to  trust,  to  love,  and  to  revere  him.  He  had 
become  to  every  man,  woman,  and  child  as  a  near  and 
dear  personal  friend.  He  was  a  most  exalted  character, 
one  of  the  noblest  representatives  of  humanity,  a  credit 
to  his  kind,  an  almost  matchless  man.  lie  was  the 
Father  of  his  Country  as  much  as  Washington  had  hern. 
The  one  gave  us  a  Republic :  the  other  preserved  it, 
when  assailed  by  domestic  enemies.  As  Emerson  puts 
it,  "By  his  courage,  his  justice,  his  even  temper,  his 
fertile  counsel,  his  humanity,  he  stood  a  heroic  figure  in 
the  center  of  a  heroic  epoch." 

As  time  goes  on,  his  reputation  will  grow.  "We  are 
still  too  near  him  to  measure  his  greatness.  He  was 
such  a  man  as  Nature  produces  only  at  long  intervals; 
he  was  of  the  grandest  type  of  men,  of  whom  there  have 
been  few  in  the  world.  Sprung  from  the  humblest,  a 
mere  backwoodsman,  without  education,  training,  or  any 
kind  of  assistance  or  advantage,  he  learned,  as  by  intui- 
tion, to  use  his  native  language,  the  greatest  of  all 
tongues,  as  the  ripest  scholars  could  not.  In  force  and 
fitness  of  expression  he  has  hardly  been  surpassed.  His 
letters  and  speeches  are  models,  the  classics  of  unstudied 
effort,  the  oracles  of  the  popular  heart.  Queer,  raw, 
angular,  awkward,  homely  of  feature,  no  one  could  he 
long  in  his  presence  and  hear  him  speak  without  feeling 
his  unquestionable  superiority.  One  forgot  his  physical 


LIVES   OF  THE   PRESIDENTS.  479 

defects  and  his  strange  uncouthness  in  the  power  and 
spirit  of  his  wonderful  individuality.  He  was  as  good 
as  he  was  great,  as  broad  as  he  was  tender.  He  will 
not  be  forgotten  ;  he  is  unforgetable.  Even  if  America 
should  decline  and  decay,  he  would  make  it  be  remem- 
bered. He  will  always  be  recalled  as  the  great  Ameri- 
can. If  ever  mortal  were,  Abraham  Lincoln  is  booked 
for  immortality.  His  fame  is  fixed  in  the  center  of  ages. 

The  future  will  revere  him  as  an  ideal  of  humanity. 
20 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 


ANDREW  JOHNSON  AND  ULYSSES  S.  GRANT, 
SEVENTEENTH  AND  EIGHTEENTH  PRESI- 
DENTS OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Johnson's  Early  Life  and  Hard  Struggles.— A  Tiiilor  who  was  more 
than  the  Ninth  Part  of  a  Man.— His  Vicw>  of  Slavery  and  Seces- 
sion.— His  Personal  Courage  and  its  Good  Effects  Politically.— His 
Disagreement  with  Congress  about  Reconstruction. — The  Impeach- 
ment Trial. — Grant  in  the  Mexican  War. — His  Incompetency  in 
Business. — Finding  his  Place  in  the  Civil  War. — His  Extraordinary 
Success  in  the  Field. — Called  to  Command  the  Army  of  the  Poto- 
mac.— His  Political  Mistakes  and  Greed  of  Power. 

Andrew  Johnson's  chief  claim  to  distinction  in  the 
future  will  probably  be  that  he  was  elected  Vicc-Pn-si- 
dent  on  the  ticket  with  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  that  he 
succeeded  him  as  President,  after  his  assassination,  April 
1 "),  1865.  His  early  life  was  very  creditable,  denoting 
what  industry,  energy,  and  perseverance  may  accomplish 
against  extreme  poverty,  want  of  education,  and  evory 
kind  of  obstacle.  Born  at  Raleigh,  N.  C.,  December  29, 
1808,  he  learned  the  trade  of  a  tailor, — his  father,  who 
died  when  he  was  a  child,  had  been  a  constable,  a  sexton, 

(480) 


THE  MARBLE  BOOM. 
INSIDE  THE  CAPITOL.— WASHINGTON. 


LIVES   OF  THE   PRESIDENTS.  481 

and  a  porter, — and  followed  it  for  many  years  at  the  lit- 
tle town  of  Greenville,  Tenn.  He  was  a  ragged  urchin, 
a  street  Arab,  until  he  was  ten  years  old,  supported  by 
the  manual  labor  of  his  mother,  who  belonged  to  that 
most  unfortunate  class  known  as  the  poor  whites  of  the 
South.  He  could  not  even  read  then ;  indeed,  he  did  not 
learn  the  alphabet  until  some  time  after.  At  eighteen, 
he  married  a  girl  of  intelligence  and  considerable  educa- 
tion, who  became  his  instructor,  reading  to  him  while  he 
worked  at  his  humble  calling,  and  teaching  him  in  the 
evening  arithmetic,  geography,  and  history. 

He  gained  considerable  influence  over  mechanics  and 
manual  laborers,  and  by  the  time  he  was  of  age  had 
taken  quite  an  interest  in  politics,  to  which  he  adhered 
through  life.  He  ardently  espoused  their  cause,  and 
arrayed  himself  against  the  rich  and  ruling  class,  so 
strong  and  arrogant  in  the  days  of  Slavery.  After  filling 
several  small  local  offices,  he  was  chosen  to  the  lower 
House  of  the  Legislature.  He  was  then  twenty-seven, 
and  proclaimed  himself  a  Democrat  of  the  Jacksonian 
school.  In  1840  he  took  the  stump  for  Martin  Van 
Buren  against  Harrison,  and  became  a  ready  and  popular 
speaker  with  the  kind  of  people  he  addressed.  He  was 
very  fond  of  alluding  to  the  fact  of  his  being  a  mechanic 
and  a  wholly  self-made  man, — he  never  recovered  from 
the  habit, — and  these  constant  allusions,  whether  in  good 
taste  or  not,  won  over  the  common  people.  In  1843  he 


482  LIVES  OP  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

was  sent  by  the  Democrats  to  Congress,  and  kept  there 
for  ten  years,  and  in  1857  he  was  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate. 

In  regard  to  Slavery,  his  views  were  those  of  a  South- 
erner and  a  Democrat.  He  accepted  it,  and  believed  it 
protected  by  the  Constitution,  'though  he  did  not 
think  it  would  last,  or  that  it  ought  to,  if  it  should 
endanger  the  Union.  In  the  canvass  of  1860,  he  supported 
Breckinridge,  the  candidate  of  the  extreme  Southerners ; 
but  when  they  threatened  secession  he  opposed  them, 
declaring  any  such  attempt  both  unjust  and  madly  foolish. 
He  maintained  that  they  should  contend  for  their  rights 
in  the  Union,  not  out  of  it ;  that  to  secede  would  ruin 
whatever  prospects  they  might  have.  He  boasted  that  he 
had  voted  and  spoken  against  Lincoln,  and  spent  money 
to  prevent  his  election.  But  as  time  went  on,  he  grew 
more  and  more  inimical  to  the  doctrine  of  State-Rights, 
and  the  action  of  the  secession  party.  One  day,  a  mob 
entered  the  railway  car  in  which  he  was  returning  home, 
for  the  purpose  of  lynching  him  ;  but  when  he  drew  his 
pistol,  the  mob  retired  in  disorder.  Johnson  was,  per- 
sonally, very  brave,  as  he  had  often  proved,  and  his  brave- 
ry, doubtless,  preserved  him  from  frequent  assaults. 
The  most  furious  Rebels  had  a  sense  of  prudence  which 
prevented  them  from  attacking  a  man  they  hated,  when 
they  knew  he  would  defend  himself  desperately.  Not 
daring  to  molest  him,  they  were  contented  to  burn  him  in 


LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS.  483 

effigy,  which  pleased  them,  and  did  him  no  harm.  His 
wife  and  child  were  driven  from  their  home,  and  his  nine 
slaves  confiscated.  Having  been  appointed  Military  Gov- 
ernor of  Tennessee  by  Lincoln,  he  discharged  his  difficult 
and  dangerous  duties  ably  and  fearlessly,  exercising  a 
most  favorable  influence  in  the  State. 

Elected  Vice-President  in  1864,  he  was  at  first  very 
severe  on  the  enemies  of  the  Government,  but  afterward 
changed  his  policy  to  one  of  conciliation,  which  rendered 
him  very  unpopular  in  the  North.  He  became  President 
at  Lincoln's  death,  and  was  soon  involved  with  Congress 
because  he  was  inimical  to  their  views  of  reconstruction 
and  the  rights  of  freedmen.  He  vetoed  various  acts 
which  were  passed  over  his  head,  and  put  himself  in  so 
antagonistic  a  position  to  the  body  that  its  members 
decided  to  impeach  him.  Charged,  among  other  offences, 
with  violating  the  Act  regulating  the  tenure  of  certain 
civil  offices — he  had  suspended  Secretary  Stanton  from 
the  war  office  without  the  consent  of  the  Senate — he  was 
formally  impeached  for  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors. 
At  the  close  of  the  trial,  thirty-five  Senators  voted  him 
guilty,  and  nineteen  not  guilty  ;  and  as  a  two-thirds  vote 
was  required  to  convict,  Johnson  escaped  by  just  one 
vote.  He  declared,  in  his  defense,  that  his  policy  of 
reconstruction  had  been  outlined  and  agreed  upon  by 
President  Lincoln  and  his  Cabinet,  and  that  Stanton  him- 
self had  pronounced  the  tenure-of-office  Act  unconstitu- 


LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS. 

tional.  His  undignified,  inconsistent  and  intemperate 
course  had  forfeited  the  esteem  in  which  the  Nation  had 
held  him,  and  he  went  out  of  office  with  genera]  approval. 
Still  seeking  place  and  power,  he  was  elected  United 
States  Senator  in  January,  1875  ;  but  he  died,  at  sixty- 
six,  the  next  July,  of  paralysis.  Andrew  Johnson  was 
one  of  the  men  who  had  lived  too  long  for  his  own  fame 
or  for  his  country's  good. 

ULYSSES  8.   GRANT. 

Ulysses  S.  Grant  is  a  notable  instance  of  a  man  who 
does  not  find  the  work  he  is  best  fitted  for  until  his  youth 
has  passed.  But  for  the  Civil  War, and  the  opportunities 
it  gave  him  of  displaying  his  military  talents,  it  is  entirely 
probable  that  he  would  have  been  to-day  unrecognized 
and  obscured.  If  any  one  had  predicted,  on  the  election 
of  Lincoln,  that  Grant  would  be  one  of  the  greatest  Gen- 
erals of  the  war  and  President  of  the  United  States,  he 
•would  have  been  laughed  at.  No  one  seems  to  have 
suspected  that  Grant  was  in  any  way  remarkable  until 
he  had  demonstrated  it  by  deeds.  It  is,  indeed,  doubtful  if 
he  had  ever  suspected  it  himself.  But  he  is  so  quiet  and 
reticent  that  it  will  never  be  known  what  opinion  Grant 
entertains  of  Grant.  It  may  be  that  he  was  more  sur- 
prised than  anybody  else  when  he  made  the  discovery  of 
his  own  heroship.  He  may  have  questioned  his  own 
identity  or  have  thought,  like  the  Irishman,  that  he  had 
been  changed  during  the  night. 


LIVES   OP   THE   PRESIDENTS.  485 

Grant  is,  as  his  name  indicates,  of  Scotch  extraction, 
but  remotely.  His  parents  were  both  Pennsylvanians, 
though  he  is  a  native  of  Point  Pleasant,  Clermont  County, 
Ohio,  having  been  born  April  27, 1822.  Having  received 
a  partial  education  at  a  common  school,  he  entered  West 
Point  as  a  cadet  at  seventeen,  and  was  graduated  four 
years  later,  standing  twenty-first  in  a  class  of  thirty-nine, 
which  is  not  a  flattering  record.  He  went  with  his  regi- 
ment as  Lieutenant  to  Mexico,  and  distinguished  himself 
in  divers  engagements,  having  been  breveted  Captain 
for  gallantry  at  Chapultepec.  After  the  capture  of  the 
city  of  Mexico,  he  returned  with  his  regiment,  mar- 
ried Julia  T.  Dent  of  St.  Louis,  sister  of  one  of  his 
classmates,  and  at  thirty-two  resigned  his  commission. 
He  went  upon  a  farm  belonging  to  his  father-in-law,  near 
St.  Louis  ;  he  was  a  real-estate  agent  in  that  city,  and  a 
clerk  for  his  father,  then  a  leather  merchant  at  Galena, 
111.,  but  did  not  prosper.  He  appeared  to  be  impractical, 
indolent,  careless,  and  was  generally  regarded  as  a  ne'er- 
do-well.  It  is  said  that  ho  was  never  able  to  provide  for 
his  family,  which  would  have  come  to  want  but  for  his 
father-in-law,  who  often  regretted  that  his  daughter  was 
the  wife  of  so  incompetent  a  person. 

When  the  Civil  War  had  broken  out,  he  was  one  of  the 
first  to  enlist,  and  was  elected  Captain  of  a  company  of 
Illinois  volunteers,  who  reported  for  duty  at  Springfield. 
He  was  afterward  made  Colonel  of  an  Illinois  regiment, 


486  LIVES    OF   THE 

the  twenty-first,  ami  became  in  two  months  a  Brigadier. 
His  first  battle  was  at  Belmont,  Mo.,  claimed  by  both 
sides,  where  he  had  a  horse  shot  under  him.  In  conjunc- 
tion with  the  gunboats  he  ascended  the  Tennessee,  and 
Fort  Henry  fell  into  our  hands,  but  mainly  through  the 
flotilla,  lie  attacked  Fort  Donelson  on  the  Cumberland 
and  forced  it  to  surrender.  February  l-~>,  1S62,  with  some 
fourteen  thousand  prisoners.  This, the  first  great  success 
of  the  war  for  the  Union  army,  filled  the  North  with  en- 
thusiasm ;  gave  Grant  a  high  reputation  and  the  rank  of 
Major-GeneraL  General  Albert  Sidney  Johnston  attacked 
Grant  April  6th,  at  Shiloh,on  the  Tennessee,  with  far  su- 
perior force;  drove  back  the  Union  troops,  and  took 
several  thousand  prisoners.  The  next  day,  Grant  having 
combined  with  General  Buell,  renewed  the  fight,  and  won 
a  victory,  General  Johnston  being  killed.  After  a  siege 
of  six  weeks,  he  took  Yicksburg — July  4,  1863, — and 
thirty  thousand  prisoners.  This  brilliant  achievement 
turned  the  admiring  eyes  of  the  North  upon  him,  and 
advanced  him  to  the  rank  of  Major-General  in  the  regular 
army.  The  following  November  he  defeated  Bragg  at 
Missionary  Ridge,  near  Chattanooga,  and  revealed  him- 
self as  the  proper  man  to  take  charge  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  which  had  never  achieved  any  permanent  suc- 
cess, but  had  experienced  any  number  of  reverses.  Jlis 
repeated  and  bloody  engagements  in  Virginia  (he  was 
the  only  General  of  the  Potomac  who  had  ever  forced  and 


LIVES   OF  THE   PRESIDENTS.  487 

continued  the  fighting)  until  he  had  obliged  Lee  to  evacuate 
Richmond,  and  then  to  surrender  at  Appomatox,  are  too 
well  known  to  require  recapitulation.  Every  honor  was 
heaped  on  Grant ;  he  had  conquered  peace ;  he  had  crushed 
the  Rebellion ;  he  had  preserved  the  Republic.  It  was 
thought  fitting,  therefore,  to  put  him  at  the  head  of  the 
government,  and  he  was  elected,  1868,  the  eighteenth 
President,  against  Horatio  Seymour,  receiving  two  hun- 
dred and  fourteen  electoral  votes,  and  his  competitor 
eighty. 

Grant  being  in  harmony  with  his  cabinet  and  the 
majority  of  Congress,  which  Johnson  had  not  been,  the 
reconstruction  of  the  States,  lately  in  rebellion,  steadily 
advanced.  He  declared  himself  in  favor  of  the  Fifteenth 
Amendment,  forbidding  the  disfranchisement  of  any 
person  on  account  of  race  or  color ;  and  the  machinery 
of  the  government,  disordered  by  the  obstinacy  of  the 
previous  Executive,  again  ran  smooth.  Grant  was 
reelected  in  1872  against  Horace  Greeley,  who  had 
obtained  the  nomination  of  the  Democrats  as  well  as  of 
the  Liberal  Republicans,  greatly  dissatisfied  with  Grant's 
administration.  While  they  regarded  some  of  Grant's 
measures  as  wise,  they  regarded  other  measures  as 
very  unwise.  They  had  no  reason,  they  said,  to  believe 
that  a  mere  soldier,  who  had  had  no  knowledge  and  no 
experience  in  political  life,  should  be  an  acceptable  Presi- 
dent. He  had  been  nominated  on  account  of  his  sup- 

20* 


488  LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS. 

posed  availability  which  had  been  proved,  nnd  for  that 
reason  he  was  again  put  forward.  His  second  term  was 
more  censured  than  the  first.  Nobody  questioned  his 
integrity  or  patriotism — these  had  been  repeatedly  tested 
in  the  field — but  he  often  seemed  indifferent  and  obstin- 
ate. He  was  sharply  criticized  for  his  excessive  attach- 
ment to  unworthy  and  unprincipled  men  whom  he  ranked 
as  his  friends.  His  confidence  in  them  was  pronounced 
excessive;  he  would  believe,  it  was  said,  nothing  against 
thrin  ;  would  not  listen  to  those  who  wished  for  his  own 
good  and  the  good  of  the  country  to  open  his  eyes.  It 
would  seem  that  Grant  is  not  a  judge  of  men.*  If  he 
had  been,  he  would  not  and  could  not  have  selected  for 
office  persons  who  constantly  abused  his  trust,  and  filled 
his  administration  with  scandals.  Fidelity  to  friends 
may  be  an  admirable  trait  in  private  citizens,  but  such 
fidelity  in  high  officials,  particularly  when  their  friends 
are  totally  undeserving,  is  apt  to  become  mischievous, 
and  is  always  dangerous. 

Grant  has  been  criticised,  too,  for  what  has  been  called 
his  lust  of  power.  Many  Republicans  turned  against 
him  because  of  his  desire  for  a  third  term.  While  there 
is  110  law  against  a  third  term,  except  the  unwritten  law 
which  custom  and  precedent  have  made,  the  general  feel- 
ing in  the  community  is  earnestly  opposed  to  it.  Grant's 
advocates  asserted  for  months  that  he  did  not  want  it, 
but  that  it  would  be  superfluous  and  foolish  for  him  to 


LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS.  489 

decline  what  had  not  been  offered.  Nevertheless,  the 
outward  indications  were  directly  otherwise,  and  the 
Chicago  convention  of  1880  made  it  plain  that  he  was 
once  more  a  candidate  of  the  most  uncompromising  arid 
contumacious  kind.  This  was  pointed  out  by  the  Inde- 
pendents as  a  corroboration  of  their  opinion,  that  Grant 
was  greedy  of  gain  and  office,  and  that  he  felt,  because 
he  had  beaten  the  Rebels,  as  if  the  Presidency  were  his 
by  right,  and  the  Nation  could  not  do  too  much  for  him 
and  his.  They  cited  as  evidence  his  willingness  to  take 
presents  of  any  sort  from  anybody  and  everybody,  and 
their  energy  of  assertion  unquestionably  injured  Grant 
in  many  quarters.  It  is  said  by  those  Independents  and 
others  that  but  for  the  late  disgraceful  failure  of  the 
firm  in  which  the  General  was  a  partner,  his  name  would 
again  have  been  presented  and  urged  at  the  recent  Con- 
vention. It  was  never  mentioned,  and  Grant's  bitterest 
opponents  now  admit  that  the  third-term  ghost  is  forever 
laid.  Grant's  connection  with  Grant  &  Ward  was  most 
unfortunate,  and  while  nobody  has  the  hardihood  to 
attempt  to  implicate  him  in  its  rascalities,  his  absolute 
ignorance  of  the  character  of  the  business  of  the  house 
in  which  he  was  a  partner,  has  given  color  to  the  charges 
of  his  unreserved  faith  in  unworthy  men,  and  of  bis  de- 
fective judgment  concerning  them.  But  when  every- 
thing has  been  said,  the  fact  remains  that  General  Grant 
continues  to  be  widely  esteemed,  and  to  excite  sincere 


490  LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS. 

sympathy  on  account  of  his  recent  financial  adversities 
from  which  a  much  inferior,  though  different  order  of 
man,  would  have  been  protected.  All  things  considered, 
it  would,  perhaps,  have  been  better  for  Grant,  had  he 
never  entered  into  politics.  But,  despite  the  mistakes  he 
has  made  in  public  life  and  out  of  it,  the  general  feeling 
is  that  he  has  put  the  Nation  under  a  debt  of  gratitude 
which  it  never  can  and  does  not  wish  to  repay. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 


RUTHERFORD  B.  HAYES,  JAMES  A.  GARFIELD, 
AND  CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR,  NINETEENTH, 
TWENTIETH,  AND  TWENTY-FIRST  PRESI- 
DENTS OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Hayes  as  Lawyer,  Politician,  and  Soldier. — Nominated  because  an 
Ohioan. — The  Electoral  Commission. — Great  Outcry  Against  him, 
but  Still  a  Creditable  President. — Garfield's  Hard  Fight  with  Fortune 
at  the  Outset. — Ambition  to  be  a  Canal-Boat  Captain. — His  Career  in 
the  Army. — Leader  of  the  House  of  Representatives. — His  Admir- 
able Equipment  for  Political  Life. — His  Nomination  at  Chicago 
Wholly  Unexpected. — The  National  Sorrow  at  his  Assassination. — 
Arthur  Born  in  a  Log  Cabin,  and  Ruling  in  the  White  House. 

Rutherford  B.  Hayes  is  of  New  England  extraction — 
his  parents  were  Vermonters — though  an  Ohioan  by 
birthright,  having  been  born  at  the  town  of  Delaware, 
October  4,  1822.  His  father,  who  was  in  comfortable 
circumstances,  and  had  a  prosperous  mercantile  business 
at  Brattleborough,  suddenly  decided,  after  the  war  of 
1812,  to  go  west.  He  had  a  fancy  for  Ohio,  then  regarded 
as  the  remote  frontier,  which,  indeed,  it  was,  and  after  a 
preliminary  journey  of  inspection,  he  was  so  well  pleased 

with  the  new  region  that  he  went  back  and  brought  his 

(491) 


492  LIVES   OP   THE   PRESIDENTS. 

family  and  household  goods  thither  by  forty  days  of  most 
fatiguing  travel  in  a  covered  wagon.  His  father,  who 
set  up  a  country  store  in  the  village,  and  conducted  it 
profitably,  died  before  Rutherford's  birth,  but  left  his 
family  very  well-off.  The  youth  was  graduated  at  Ken- 
yon  College,  Gambier,  at  twenty,  studied  law,  and 
briran  practice  at  twenty-three  at  Sandusky. 

He  afterward  removed  to  Cincinnati,  opened  an  offce, 
and  married  Lucy  W.  Webb,  daughter  of  a  physician  of 
Chillicothc.  A  staunch  Republican  in  opinion,  he  was 
chosen  City  Solicitor,  and  grew  prominent  in  local 
politics.  Joining  the  Literary  Club,  he  became  a  friend 
of  a  number  of  the  members,  among  them  Salmon  P. 
Chase,  John  Pope,  and  Edward  F.  Xoyos,  who  afterward 
obtained  celebrity  in  the  field  and  in  the  councils  of  the 
Nation.  At  the  first  call  for  troops,  the  Literary  Club 
formed  a  military  company  with  the  name,  Burnett 
Rifles,  and  offered  its  services  to  the  government.  Not 
less  than  seventy-five  members  became  commissioned 
officers,  more  than  half  of  tbesc  being  lawyers.  Hayes 
was  made  Major  of  the  Twenty-third  Ohio  infantry,  of 
which  Stanley  Matthews  was  Lieutenant-colonel,  and 
William  S.  Rosecrans  Colonel,  and  was  assigned  to  duty 
in  West  Virginia.  lie  was  very  energetic  in  campaign- 
ing, was  wounded  at  South  Mountain,  and  at  the  close  of 
October  was  appointed  a  Brigadier,  and  early  in  1865  a 
Major-Geueral  by  brevet  for  gallant  conduct  in  the  field, 


LIVES   OP  THE   PRESIDENTS.  493 

especially  at  Fisher's  Hill  and  Cedar  Creek.  In  the 
Autumn  of  1864,  he  was  sent  to  Congress  from  one  of 
the  Cincinnati  districts,  and  was  sent  back  two  years 
later.  Although  he  seldom  participated  in  debate,  he 
performed  a  deal  of  hard  work,  and  was  of  more  value 
than  many  of  the  glib  talkers  in  the  House.  Having 
been  chosen  governor  in  1867  against  Judge  Thurman, 
Democrat,  he  resigned  his  seat  to  go  to  Columbus,  and 
was  reflected  two  years  later. 

Ten  years  ago,  a  rich  uncle,  Sardis  Birchard,  died  and 
left  him  a  handsome  property.  In  1875,  having  again 
been  put  forward  as  Governor,  because  it  was  considered 
very  important  that  the  Republicans  should  carry  Ohio, 
he  received  a  majority  of  5,544  over  William  Alle'n. 
This  naturally  introduced  him  as  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency,  and  the  Ohio  Republican  Convention  in 
March,  1876,  recommended  his  nomination.  At  the 
National  Convention  in  Cincinnati  in  June,  before  which 
Elaine  and  Roscoe  Conkling  were  most  prominent,  it  was 
found  impossible  to  nominate  either  of  them ;  conse- 
quently the  opponents  of  Elaine  united  on  Hayes,  and  on 
the  seventh  ballot  gave  him  384  votes ;  Elaine  getting 
351,  and  Benjamin  H.  Bristow  21.  In  the  returns  of  the 
November  elections,  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, had  184  electoral  votes,  and  Hayes  172  that  were 
unquestioned.  The  votes  of  Florida  and  Louisiana,  and 
one  of  the  votes  of  Oregon  were  in  dispute  on  different 


494  LIVES   OP  THE   PRESIDENTS. 

grounds  between  the  parties.  There  was  much  excite- 
ment over  this,  and  there  seemed  to  he  no  way  of  set- 
tlinir  the  matter.  Finally,  it  was  agreed  that  the  decision 
should  be  left  to  a  commission  of  five  Senators,  five  Re- 
presentatives, and  five  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
Thive  of  the  Senators  were  to  be  Republicans  and  two 
Democrats,  three  of  the  Representatives  Democrats  and 
two  Republicans.  Four  Judges,  two  of  each  party,  were 
elected,  and  these  were  to  name  a  fifth,  who  was  a  Re- 
publican. Thus  the  commission  stood  eight  Republicans 
to  seven  Democrats,  and  they  all  voted  strictly  in  accord- 
ance with  their  party,  declaring  Hayes  elected  over  Til- 
den  by  one  vote,  and  he,  Hayes,  was  duly  inaugurated 
nineteenth  President  of  the  United  States. 

There  was  a  great  Democratic  outcry  that  Hayes  had 
not  been  honestly  elected,  and  he  was  roundly  abused  for 
two  years.  But  he  preserved  a  firm,  dignified  demean- 
our, and  conducted  his  administration  to  a  creditable 
close.  It  was  the  fashion  to  ridicule  him  as  unfit  for 
the  position ;  but  the  facts  showed  nothing  of  the  kind. 
He  is  not  a  great  or  a  brilliant  man — few  of  our  Presidents 
have  been — but  he  was  honest,  modest,  and  conscientious 
in  his  high  office,  and  is  entitled  to,  and  has  won  the  es- 
teem of  unbiased  citizens. 


LIVES   OP  THE   PRESIDENTS.  495 

JAMES   A.    GARFIELD. 

James  A.  Garfield  was  another  of  the  self-made  men 
who  have  become  Presidents  of  the  United  States,  al- 
though there  was  no  more  likelihood  in  his  youth  of  such 
an  occurrence  than  of  his  becoming  the  Mikado  of 
Japan.  Although  self-made,  he  was  better  made  than  the 
great  majority  of  men  who  are  so  called.  He  secured  a 
regular  education,  and  achieved  scholarship  in  the  teeth 
of  the  most  formidable  difficulties  by  a  degree  of  indus- 
try, energy,  and  perseverance  that  is  seldom  equaled. 
He  nobly  won  all  the  prizes  that  were  his.  They  did  not 
fall  to  his  lot :  he  wrested  them  from  reluctant  fortune. 

He  was  from  Orange  township,  Cuyahoga  County,  Ohio 
— Ohio  has  become  the  Northern  mother  of  Presidents — 
having  been  born  there  November  19,  1831.  Some  of 
his  biographers  aver  that  he  was  of  noble  English  descent. 
His  father,  a  native  of  Worcester,  N.  Y.,  had  emigrated 
and  made  what  he  considered  a  home  in  the  primeval 
forest,  cutting  down  the  trees,  and  building  a  log  cabin 
for  his  family.  To  that  uninviting  place,  four  children 
had  been  bidden,  James  being  the  youngest — they  might 
not  have  come  voluntarily — and  participated  with  their 
parents  in  the  desperate  struggle  for  existence,  inevitable 
in  such  a  region.  Everything  was  of  the  rudest.  They 
lived  little  better  than  savages.  The  cabin  was  with- 
out windows  or  doors, — holes  serving  for  the  purpose 
— and  two  or  three  acres  of  cleared  land  furnishing  the 


496  LIVES   OF  THE   PRESIDENTS. 

grain,  and  the  woods  the  game  on  which  they  subsisted. 
In  such  an  abode  the  future  President  cut  wood,  dug  up 
stumps,  watched  cattle,  and  tilled  landed  until  he  was 
twelve  years  old.  His  father  died  when  he  was  a  lml>y, 
and  lie  might  have  starved  except  for  his  elder  brother 
and  his  mother — her  maiden  name  was  Eliza  Ballou — 
who  labored  night  and  day  to  keep  the  wolf  from  the 
door.  A  relative  of  Abram  Garlield,  who  lived  in  the 
neighborhood,  pitied  their  poverty,  and  aided  them  to 
the  extent  of  his  limited  ability. 

James  does  not  seem  to  have  been  different  from  other 
boys.  He  showed  no  precocious  talents,  or,  in  fact,  talents 
of  any  sort  until  he  had  reached  his  teens.  His  first 
ambition  was  to  be  the  Captain  of  a  canal  boat ;  but  he 
never  got  any  further  than  to  drive  a  mule  on  the  tow- 
path  on  the  Ohio  canal.  He  was  fond  of  reading,  and 
as  he  went  to  Cleveland  frequently  to  sell  wood  or  buy 
provisions,  he  had  opportunities  to  get  books.  A  noma- 
dic teacher  and  preacher  whom  he  had  met,  inspired  him 
with  a  desire  for  education,  and  by  practicing  all  sorts  of 
self-denial,  he  was  enabled  to  attend  an  academy  in  the 
adjoining  township  of  Chester.  In  one  of  the  classes 
there  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Lucretia  Rudolph, 
who  afterward  became  his  wife.  He  subsequently  went 
to  the  Eclectic  Institute,  now  Hiram  College,  where  he 
was  fitted  for  Williams  College,  being  graduated  at 
twenty-five.  Returning  to  Hiram,  he  taught  there  for  a 


LIVES   OF  THE   PEESIDENTS.  497 

while,  and  was  in  a  short  while  appointed  its  President. 
He  also  studied  law,  of  course — nearly  every  public  man 
in  the  Republic  is  or  has  been  a  lawyer — and  was  admit- 
ted to  the  bar.  Politics  likewise  engaged  his  attention, 
and  he  was  sent  by  the  Republicans  to  the  State  Senate, 
where  he  exhibited  decided  ability. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  he  entered  the  field  as 
colonel  of  the  42d  Ohio  volunteers,  and  was  ordered  to 
Kentucky.  He  defeated  Humphrey  Marshall  at  Paint- 
ville  with  a  much  inferior  force,  and  drove  him  out  of  the 
State,  receiving  therefor  a  brigadiership  at  an  earlier  age 
— thirty — than  any  other  Union  soldier.  He  afterward 
served  at  Shiloh,  Corinth,  and  in  Alabama,  and  in  1863 
was  appointed  chief  of  staff  of  the  army  of  the  Cumber- 
land under  Rosecrans.  For  meritorious  conduct  at  Chi- 
chamauga  he  was  made  a  Major-General.  He  went  to 
Congress  the  same  year;  was  reflected  eight  times,  and 
after  Elaine  had  been  transferred  to  the  Senate — 1876 — 
he  was  acknowledged  to  be  the  Republican  leader  of  the 
House.  Garfield  had  become  a  diligent  student  and  a  tire- 
less worker,  and  did  such  excellent  work  on  committees 
as  to  earn  a  national  reputation.  No  man  in  the  country 
advanced  more  intellectually  from  the  time  he  entered 
Congress  until  he  stepped  into  the  Executive  Mansion. 
He  was  by  temperament,  training,  and  ambition  a  leader. 
He  appeared  to  be  at  the  time  of  his  death  the  national 
chief  of  the  Republican  party,  and  he  would  no  doubt 


498  LIVES   OP   THE   PRESIDENTS. 

have  kept  the  place,  had  he  lived.  He  was  an  able 
speaker,  acquainted  with  finance,  railways,  the  public 
needs,  and  such  political  questions,  not  to  speak  of  his 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  as  a  man  in  his  position 
ought  to  be,  and  he  went  to  the  bottom  of  things. 

in  January,  1880,  he  was  elected  to  the  National  Sen- 
ate from  Ohio,  and  at  the  National  Convention  in  June, 
which  he  attended  at  a  delegate,  he  was  nominated  to 
the  Presidency  on  the  thirty-sixth  ballot.  Having  gone 
to  Chicago  to  support  John  Sherman,  he  had  no  thought 
of  his  own  nomination,  for  he  was  not  a  candidate. 
firant  and  Blaine  wore  most  conspicuous  before  the  Con- 
vention, and  most  of  (Grant's  opponents  at  the  last  went 
over  to  Garfield.  He  received  in  November  the  votes  of 
nearly  all  the  Northern  States.  No  one  can  forget  the 
sad  day  when  (luiteau,  from  anger  at  not  getting  an 
office,  and  from  morbid  love  of  notoriety,  shot  the  Presi- 
dent, or  the  still  sadder  day  when  lie  died.  The  eighty 
days  in  which  his  life  trembled  in  the  balance,  were  days 
of  such  anxiety,  compassion,  and  sorrow  throughout  the 
land  as  had  never  before  been  felt.  And  when  he 
breathed  his  last,  the  whole  Republic  mourned  as  if  it 
had  sustained  a  personal  bereavement  of  the  nearest  and 
dearest ;  and  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  are  still 
unresigned  to  a  stroke  of  destiny  so  needlessly  cruel. 


LIVES   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS.  499 

CHESTER   A.    ARTHUR. 

Chester  A.  Arthur  is  the  fourth  Yice-President  who 
has  become  President  by  the  death  of  the  Chief  Magis- 
trate, and  two  of  the  deaths,  strange  to  say,  have  been 
assassinations  in  a  land  that  has  an  instinctive  horror 
of  assassins.  Before  Harrison's  decease,  it  used  to  be 
said  by  politicians,  "  It  matters  little  whom  we  nominate 
for  Yice-President.  A  Vice-President  is  nothing  but 
President  of  the  Senate ;  he  can  do  no  harm,  and  very 
little  good.  Almost  any  man  will  answer  for  that 
office."  The  experience  of  forty  odd  years  has  taught 
us  the  contrary.  We  have  learned  that  an  American 
President  is  as  mortal  as  any  of  his  fellows,  and  that 
Vice-Presidents  are  very  uncertain.  Not  one  of  the 
Vice-Presidents,  Arthur  excepted,  redeemed  the  expec- 
tations formed  of  them ;  and  two  of  them  rendered 
themselves  odious  and  infamous  to  the  party  that  had 
put  them  in  power.  Fillmore,  the  best  of  the  three 
that  are  dead,  made  himself  so  unpopular  by  approving 
of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  that  he  never  could  have 

o 

been  elected  again.  Arthur  has  gained  a  repute  at  the 
head  of  the  Nation  which  he  certainly  did  not  have 
as  the  holder  of  the  second  place.  When  nominated, 
he  was  not  generally  approved ;  he  was  believed  to  be 
too  much  of  a  politician,  and  too  little  else.  It  was 
understood  that  he  had  been  put  on  the  ticket  with  a 
view  to  carrying  New  York,  and  that  this  constituted 


500  LIVES   OF   THE    PRESIDENTS. 

his  principal  claim.  Following  his  election,  his  rampant 
"  stalwartism,"  his  over-anxiety  to  serve  Conkling  at 
Albany,  after  his  resignation  from  the  Senate,  was 
harshly  and  justly  commented  on.  But  when  (iurfield 
died,  he  acted  with  delicacy  and  discretion,  and  has 
so  acted  ever  since.  His  views  have  been  broad 
and  statesman-like,  his  bearing  dignified,  his  policy 
enlightened.  Nobody  will  say  that  he  has  not  been  a 
good  President.  He  will  go  out  of  office  with  honors 
that,  when  he  entered  it,  were  not  his.  This  is  no  light 
praise.  And  more;  he  has  removed  the  doubt  and 
apprehension  that  have  been  associated  with  Vice-Pre- 
sidential succession. 

Arthur  is  the  son  of  a  Baptist  clergyman  from  the 
North  of  Ireland,  who  had  settled  in  Eastern  Canada, 
and  had,  with  unconscious  forecast,  removed  just  across 
the  border,  to  give  his  eldest  hoy  a  geographical  chance 
to  be  President  of  the  United  States.  He  was  born  at 
the  hamlet  of  Fairficld  in  a  log  cabin;  was  one  of  five 
children,  whom  his  father,  preaching  for  £350  a  year  in 
an  old  barn,  could  hardly  afford  to  have.  But  families 
were  not  then  regarded  financially,  nor  were  they  the 
dispensable  luxuries  that  they  are  now,  particularly 
in  large  and  expensive  cities.  The  poor  clergyman  was 
obliged  to  eke  out  his  necessary  expenses  by  manual 
labor  in  field  or  shop,  and  even  when  his  circumstances 


LIVES   OF  THE   PRESIDENTS.  501 

improved,  was  but  an  itinerant  pulpiteer,  continually 
perplexed  with  making  both  ends  meet. 

Chester  Arthur,  who  is  a  polished  man  of  society, 
and  noted  as  an  elegant  dinner-giver,  must  contrast  some- 
times the  sumptuousness  of  these  days  with  the  Spartan 
plainness  of  the  days  of  his  boyhood,  spent  in  the  rude 
school-house  of  the  rural  districts  of  the  time.  He  was 
only  eighteen  when  he  was  graduated  at  Union  College, 
Schenectady.  After  teaching  a  while  in  his  native 
State,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  twenty -eight,  and 
settled  in  New  York  City.  His  first  case  that  made 
any  noise  was  the  Lemmon  Slave  Case,  in  which  he 
was  attorney  for  the  people,  and  Wm.  M.  Evarts  leading 
counsel  on  the  same  side.  They  maintained  that  eight 
slaves  whom  their  master,  Jonathan  Lemmon  of  Vir- 
ginia, had  brought  to  New  York,  were  made  free  by 
his  voluntary  act.  Charles  O'Conor  and  Henry  L. 
Clinton  appeared  for  Lemmon ;  but  after  various  ap- 
peals, Arthur  and  Evarts'  position  was  sustained. 
Arthur  acted  as  counsel  for  a  colored  woman  who  had 
been  expelled  (1856)  from  the  horse-cars  on  account 
of  her  color,  and  gained  a  verdict  for  damages  for  his 
client,  which  secured  equal  rights  for  negroes  in  all 
public  vehicles.  One  of  the  first  Republicans,  he  has 
always  acted  with  the  party.  He  was  appointed  Engi- 
neer-in-Chief  by  Governor  Morgan  in  1861,  and,  the 
year  following,  Quartermaster-General  of  the  forces  of 


502  LIVES   OP  THE   PRESIDENTS. 

the  State  (whence  his  title),  and  discharged  his  duties 
admirably.  For  seven  years  he  was  Collector  of  the 
Port  of  New  York,  and  was  removed  by  Hayes  because 
he  thought  the  office  was  used  as  a  political  power  in 
the  State.  He  then  resumed  the  practice  of  law,  but 
has  always  been  a  very  active, — perhaps  too  active, — 
politician.  He  is  now,  as  every  one  knows,  the  twenty- 
first  President  of  the  Republic. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
Los  Angeles 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


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